This week, Venus will pass through the so-called Golden Gate of the Ecliptic. Although the name has risen to prominence with science popularisers in recent decades, its exact origin is unknown.
It references two star clusters in the constellation Taurus, the Bull. The Hydes and the Pleiades lie on either side of the ecliptic, which is the plane of the solar system. As such, the sun, the moon and the planets all follow this line in their passage through the sky. The constellations the ecliptic passes through are known as the zodiacal constellations, referred to in popular culture as the signs of the zodiac.
The chart shows the view looking east-north-east from London at 3.30am BST in the pre-dawn twilight of 8 July 2025. On this day, Venus will be approaching the “gate”. On subsequent mornings, the brilliant planet will move across the invisible line between the two clusters and on 12 and 13 July, it will clip the top of the Hyades star cluster, appearing 3 degrees away from the star Aldebaran.
Venus will be a brilliant white beacon in the morning sky, contrasting with the blood-red light from Aldebaran, which represents the eye of the bull.
The conjunction will also be easily visible from the southern hemisphere.
