Conjunction between the Moon and M44
2018 May 20
Dominic Ford – originally published on In-The-Sky.org
The Moon and M44 will make a close approach, passing within 1°38' of each other.
From London (click to change), the pair will become visible at around 21:16 (BST) as the dusk sky fades, 38° above your western horizon. They will then sink towards the horizon, setting 4 hours and 55 minutes after the Sun at 01:44.
At the moment of closest approach, the Moon will be at mag -11.5, and M44 at mag 3.1, both in the constellation Cancer.
The pair will be too widely separated to fit within the field of view of a telescope, but will be visible to the naked eye or through a pair of binoculars.
The precise positions of the Moon and M44 at the moment of closest approach will be as follows:
| Object | Right Ascension | Declination | Constellation | Magnitude | Angular Size |
| The Moon | 08h38m50s | +18°21' | Cancer | -11.5 | 32'28"4 |
| M44 | 08h40m00s | +19°58' | Cancer | 3.1 | 1'35"0 |
The coordinates above are given in J2000.0. The pair will be at an angular separation of 68° from the Sun, which is in Taurus at this time of year.
The details of this observing event were provided courtesy of In-The-Sky.org
.