Conjunction between the Moon and M44
2018 Sep 7
Dominic Ford – originally published on In-The-Sky.org
The Moon and M44 will make a close approach, passing within 1°22' of each other.
From London (click to change), the pair will be visible in the dawn sky. They will rise at 02:41 (BST), 3 hours and 39 minutes before the Sun, and attain an altitude of 27° above the eastern horizon before fading from view as dawn breaks at around 05:58.
At the moment of closest approach, the Moon will be at mag -10.3, 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 | 08h39m00s | +18°37' | Cancer | -10.3 | 32'59"2 |
| 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 36° from the Sun, which is in Leo at this time of year.
The details of this observing event were provided courtesy of In-The-Sky.org
.