On the morning of Monday, October 12th (Columbus Day here in the Americas) about 50 minutes before sunrise, I took this great shots of the eastern sky with the planets Jupiter & Mars along with the brightest stars of the constellations Gemini the Twins (Pollux), Canis Minor (Procyon), Leo the Lion (Regulus), and Hydra the Sea Serpent (Alphard).
The second shot is a close-up of Mars showing it close to the faint Beehive Star Cluster (Praesepe/M44) which is a part of the constellation Cancer The Crab.
The planet Mars
was actually inside the open cluster over the weekend of October 10th
and 11th, however overcast skies and rain from the recent tropical storm
prevented me from getting a good shot of that event unfortunately.
Still, I'm proud of how this photo came out, showing the orange-tinted
4th planet of our Solar System with the faint cluster of stars.
The Beehive Cluster (M44) is estimated to be at a distance of about 610 light-years (or 187 parsecs) from our Sun.
Mars will continue to be a part of the faint constellation Cancer itself for about two more weeks till its orbit takes it further eastward towards Jupiter and a conjunction with the large gas giant in November.
