This graphic shows the position of Mars near the Beehive Cluster (M44) on the evening of May 5.
credit: M. Bakich/TheSKY software
Key Takeaways:
- On May 5th, Mars will appear near the Beehive star cluster.
- You can see this celestial event for several days around May 5th.
- Mars is much closer to Earth than the Beehive cluster.
- The Beehive is incredibly far away compared to Mars.
In this episode, Astronomy magazine Editor Dave Eicher invites you to head out the evening of May 5 to see Mars close to the Beehive Cluster in the constellation Cancer the Crab. In fact, because Mars doesn’t move all that fast, you’ll be able to spot the Red Planet near the open star cluster several days before or after the 5th. This is a fascinating lineup. Mars is about 132 million miles (213 million km) from Earth, while the Beehive lies about 575 light-years distant. That means the Beehive Cluster is more than 2½ million times as far away as Mars. Good luck!
