Close approach of the Moon and M44

The Moon and M44 will make a close approach, passing within 0°31' of each other. The Moon will be 2 days old.

From London however, the pair will not be observable – they will reach their highest point in the sky during daytime and will be no higher than 7° above the horizon at dusk.

The Moon will be at mag -9.4, and M44 at mag 3.1, both in the constellation Cancer.

The pair will be a little too widely separated to fit comfortably within the field of view of a telescope, but will 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 25° from the Sun, which is in Gemini at this time of year.

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

.