Close approach of the Moon and M44

The Moon and M44 will make a close approach, passing within 0°19′ of each other. The Moon will be 7 days old.

From London, the pair will become visible at around 20:59 (BST) as the dusk sky fades, 46° above your south-western horizon. They will then sink towards the horizon, setting 5 hours and 46 minutes after the Sun at 02:19.

The Moon will be at mag -11.7, and M44 at mag 3.1, both in the constellation Cancer.

The pair will be close enough to fit within the field of view of a telescope, but will also be visible through a pair of binoculars.

A graph of the angular separation between the Moon and M44 around the time of closest approach is available here.

The positions of the two objects at the moment of closest approach will be as follows:

The coordinates above are given in J2000.0. The pair will be at an angular separation of 77° from the Sun, which is in Aries at this time of year.

This entry in the observing calendar was provided by In-The-Sky.org

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