This week, Astronomy magazine Editor Emeritus Dave Eicher invites you to look to the western sky on the evening of May 21 and see a crescent Moon near the open star cluster M44, also known as the Beehive. Nearby will be two dazzling planets — Jupiter and Venus — as well as the bright stars Pollux and Castor. Clear skies!
The Moon, the Beehive, and friends — video transcript
Hi, I’m Dave Eicher, editor emeritus of Astronomy magazine. Welcome to This Week in Astronomy, brought to you by Celestron, the world’s leading manufacturer of telescopes.
You know, a really beautiful evening sky event is coming up on May 21st. On that evening, you might want to head out and look to the west as the sky is really just darkening. You’ll see a spectacular alignment on that night of stars and planets and the Moon. Bring a pair of binoculars and set up your scope to check out things in close detail, but this’ll be a beautiful naked-eye view, which will show you a thin, relatively thin crescent Moon.
It’s going to be about 35% illuminated on that night, hanging up in the constellation Cancer. Well, look closely and you’ll see very close to the Moon is a bright star cluster known as the Beehive, M44. It’s a very large, scattered open cluster of fairly bright stars, but there’s a lot more going on on this night as well.
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Low in the sky, you’ll see dazzling Venus. It’s going to be shining at about magnitude –3.9, near the feet of Gemini the Twins. Between Venus and the Moon lies Jupiter itself, beaming at about magnitude –1.8, and near the head of Gemini. The bright stars Castor and Pollux, of course, which mark the head of Gemini, will also complete the scene and add some dazzle and some color.
So, this will be really an unforgettable evening experience for naked-eye skywatchers, for anyone with binoculars to check out the individual pieces, and certainly to explore with a telescope. Head out there and check it out. I’ll see you next time.
David Eicher is one of the most widely recognized astronomy enthusiasts in the world. He has been with Astronomy magazine for 36 years, was the magazine’s chief editor from 2002 to 2025, and is currently the magazine’s Editor Emeritus. He has written 15 books on astronomy and 9 books on U.S. history.
