Venus will pass through the Beehive Cluster tonight

Venus will look like the queen bee passing over her colony tonight as the planet hovers above the Beehive Cluster in a stunning spectacle for skygazers.

The Bijenkorf Cluster, also known as M44, is a ‘star cluster’ – tightly packed clusters of tens of thousands to millions of stars held together by gravity.

Located in the constellation of Cancer in the northern sky, it is described as a “swarm” of about 1,000 stars, stretching a total of about three times the size of a full moon.

Venus has been steadily approaching the Beehive Cluster for weeks and will appear just above it throughout Monday night and Tuesday night.

The spectacle will be easily visible to the naked eye, although experts say it will look clearer with a telescope or even just binoculars.

The stars that make up the Beehive Cluster are relatively young – about 600 million years old, which is a fraction of the age of our Sun (4.5 billion years).

It is also 600 light-years away, making it one of the closest star clusters to our solar system.

Although it appears to span the space of three full moons in the night sky, the Beehive Cluster actually spans about 15 light-years — the distance light travels in the space of 15 years.

It includes yellowish-hued stars that are red giants — stars in their final death stages that have swelled to many times their original size.

But there are also blue main-sequence stars – short-lived stars that burn very hot and glow luminous and blue.

Venus, meanwhile, is the brightest object in the night sky and can easily be mistaken for a star, although there is an easy way to spot the planet.

In a starry background, the planets can be identified by their distinct lack of twinkle; stars twinkle, while planets usually shine steadily.

In addition, Venus is completely covered in a thick carbon dioxide atmosphere and clouds of sulfuric acid that give it a pale yellow appearance.

As a guide, look north toward the bright stars Castor and Pollux in the nearby constellation of Gemini.

Next, look southeast for Cancer, which resembles an inverted Y, and there should be a fuzzy spot of light in the center that is the Beehive Cluster.

As with any sky-watching opportunity, those who are rewarded will be in an area with little light pollution and cloudless skies.

The Met Office told MailOnline the cloudier UK skies will be over western areas and across Scotland on Monday evening, but East Midland, East Anglia and the South East should be clearer.

“Drier and clearer air continues to move west overnight with mostly clear skies across much of England and Scotland at dawn on Tuesday,” a Met Office spokesman said.

On Tuesday, a few isolated showers fading quickly as the evening progresses with mostly clear skies across much of the country providing favorable viewing conditions for many.

“However, some low cloud may move over the North Sea coasts in Scotland with slightly hazier skies in Northern Ireland and South West England.”

Visible to the naked eye, the Beehive Cluster or M44 has been recognized since ancient times.

Galileo had the first telescopic view of the Beehive in 1609, using his paper tube and two pieces of glass to detect 40 stars.

It was described as a faint cloud or celestial mist long before its inclusion as the 44th entry in French astronomer Charles Messier’s famous 18th-century catalog.

It wasn’t until astronomical telescopes became available that the star cluster was broken down into its individual stars.