Mars has passed through the Beehive Cluster and is now close enough to Jupiter that it is possible to fit the stretch of ecliptic from Mars down to Regulus into a single image using my standard lens of 55 mm focal length.  Jupiter is magnitude -1.96 while Mars is +1.04 this morning, now separated by 12°59'05".  In one month and three days the pair will undergo a conjunction, the prelude to their February 2027 "near mutual conjunction" event.   Unannotated image.