• If you're up at dawn tomorrow, you'll easily see the waning crescent moon pairing up with the planet Venus. After all, the moon and Venus rank as the second-brightest and third-brightest celestial bodies, respectively, after the sun. But if you're up before the onset of dawn, you can also catch the glorious Beehive star cluster in close vicinity to Venus.
• In a dark country sky, the Beehive looks like a small smudge of light with the unaided eye. Binoculars, though, reveal that this faint fuzzy is actually a cluster teeming with stars. Venus

lodges close to the Beehive for the next several days, making it rather easy to locate this star cluster in the predawn sky. By the way, the Beehive resides very close to the center of the constellation Cancer the Crab.
• Two faint yet visible stars flank the Beehive cluster: Asellus Borealis (Northern Donkey) and Asellus Australis (Southern Donkey). According to star lore, creatures such as donkeys were unbeknownst to the giant Titans when the Olympians and Titans were engaging in their legendary struggle. The donkeys' braying - which the Titans had never heard before - alarmed them so greatly that they readily retreated from the Olympians. In gratitude, Jupiter placed these donkeys in the sky, providing them with a crib of hay forever after.
• This larger-than-life tale takes stage within a single binocular field of view, a classic that's as timeless as the stars! Use the waning crescent moon to find Venus, and this dazzling planet to locate the Beehive cluster during the predawn hours on Wednesday, September 12.
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