Use planet Mercury to guide you to the Beehive!
A few months ago it was planet Mars that appeared close to the Beehive star cluster. This month, it’s Mercury’s turn. The Beehive open cluster of stars is otherwise known as Praesepe. If you can view it under a dark night sky away from city lights, it looks like a fuzzy haze to the naked eye! With magnification using a small telescope or binoculars, you’ll see many stars!
Use the above image as a guide. Astronomical images provided by SkySafari, a Simulation Curriculum Company, All rights reserved www.simulationcurriculum.com.
When and where to look:
6.30pm, 3rd July low on the western horizon.
Something interesting:
An open star cluster, like the Beehive, is a group of stars that were formed at roughly the same time and in the same star forming region. These stars are bound to each other by gravitational forces. You can’t always see open star clusters with the naked eye but they look amazing in binoculars. On the other hand, a constellation is an area of the celestial sphere that contains a grouping of stars that can be recognised as a picture or image in our night sky. Orion is a constellation.