{"id":26729,"date":"2026-10-28T08:28:20","date_gmt":"2026-10-28T07:28:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.petrhoralek.com\/?p=26729"},"modified":"2026-10-28T08:28:20","modified_gmt":"2026-10-28T07:28:20","slug":"planetary-traffic-in-front-of-beehive","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.petrhoralek.com\/?p=26729","title":{"rendered":"Planetary Traffic in front of Beehive"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Planetary<\/a>

Planetary Traffic in front of Beehive<\/p><\/div>\n

Over the past year and a half, there has been quite a bit of planetary traffic in front of the Beehive Cluster<\/a>, located in the constellation Cancer about 600 light-years away. Since the cluster lies near the ecliptic plane, this is not particularly unusual. Mars passed through this “cosmic stretch” twice; it first appeared in front of the cluster between April 30 and May 9, 2025<\/a> (upper positions). Me and Pavel \u0160t\u011bp\u00e1nek carefully documented its position from Chile each evening. Shortly thereafter, between August 31 and September 2, 2025<\/a>, the bright planet Venus appeared in front of the cluster for a few days, which I captured from \u00dastupky, Czech Republic. Mars made a second appearance in front of the cluster in October 2026 \u2014 an event diligently recorded every morning by Old\u0159ich \u0160p\u016frek and me, with technical assistance from Josef Kujal between 6th and 17th October. As seen in the center of the image, the Beehive Cluster consists primarily of young, blue stars. When will another planet appear in front of the Beehive Cluster again? We won\u2019t have to wait long\u2014it will happen as early as the beginning of August 2027. And it just so happens to coincide with the day a total solar eclipse occurs on Earth. Used Canon Ra, Tamron 70-200mm@200mm, f3.2, different ISO (usually tracked from Vixen Polarie U and taken 30s exposures).<\/p>\n

Credit: Old\u0159ich \u0160p\u016frek<\/a>, Pavel \u0160t\u011bp\u00e1nek, Josef Kujal<\/a>, Petr Hor\u00e1lek (Inst. of Physics in Opava<\/a>, NOIRLab\/AURA\/NSF<\/a>)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Over the past year and a half, there has been quite a bit of planetary traffic in front of the Beehive Cluster, located in the constellation Cancer about 600 light-years away. Since the cluster lies near the ecliptic plane, this is not particularly unusual. Mars passed through this “cosmic stretch” twice; it first appeared in…
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