Zodiacal light with Venus as a morning star just below. The zodiacal light is from sunlight reflecting off interplanetary dust in the inner solar system and lies along the ecliptic. At this time the orbit of Venus was tipped below the ecliptic, placing Venus to the right of the zodiacal light here. Venus was just past its point of greatest brilliance for this morning apparition in late 2023, at magnitude -4.7. Orion and the winter stars of Procyon and Sirius (just above the clouds) are at right. The star cluster Messier 44, or the Beehive Cluster, in Cancer, is above Venus. The stars of Leo including Regulus are just rising below and to the left of Venus. Photographed on 22 September 2023.