Skywatchers in the Southern Hemisphere were in for a rare treat as two planets formed a recent conjunction in the night sky. Mars (seen in the upper track) and Venus (lower track) appear to "cross" the open star cluster Messier 44 — better known as Praesepe or the Beehive Cluster— creating two bright, dotted paths against a dense swarm of starlight in this composite time-lapse photo. The image combines each planet's nightly positions during separate 2025 apparitions, assembled by astrophotographer Petr Horálek, a NOIRLab Audiovisual Ambassador.
This composite image was weeks in the making, as Horálek’s two "crossings" happened months apart. Mars traced its path through the cluster from late April to early May 2025. Venus followed with a brief morning-twilight passage from late August to early September 2025, appearing low in early dawn light.
