THERE is not much to see in the post-sunset sky at the moment, but early risers/insomniacs/vampires can enjoy seeing something beautiful in the eastern sky before dawn.
Look to the east around 4am over the next week or so and you'll see Venus blazing low in the sky, hovering above the treetops and fell summits. Lantern-bright, it can't be mistaken for a star or anything else. If you can get out of town, away from streetlights, to a truly dark place, you'll be mesmerised by Venus's beauty.
Look carefully to the upper left of Venus and you'll see a large, spread-out star cluster, M44 the ‘beehive’ cluster. Also known as Praesepe, Latin for 'Manger' this is a group of more than 1,000 stars, many hundreds of light years away. Because of its wide diameter and faint stars it's best seen through binoculars. Then it really pops into view.
Stuart Atkinson
Eddington Astronomical Society of Kendal
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