Monday evening May 29th the 5-day old waxing crescent Moon will be within 3-4o from the open star cluster M-44, or as it probably more known as the “Beehive Cluster”, or from Latin, Praesepe, meaning “manger”.
Both of which fit easily within the field of view of binoculars.
This open star cluster, as a group, has a 3rd-4th apparent magnitude and to the naked eye appears as a fuzzy patch of light in Cancer the Crab. M-44 is near the 4th magnitude star Asellus Australis, the star that marks the splitting point for the Y-shaped star pattern.
Click here to go to the Qué tal in the Current Skies web site for monthly observing information, or here to return to bobs-spaces.