Sunday night November 17th the 21-day old waning gibbous Moon will pass by the open star cluster M-44, aka the Beehive Cluster. M-44 is a group of stars, an Open Star Cluster, approximately 160 light years distant, within the constellation of Cancer the Crab. Actually seeing the stars in M-44 may not be possible due to the difference in the apparent magnitude of the Moon (-12.4) and the Beehive Cluster (3.4).
Over the hours when the Moon is above the horizon it will pass by the Beehive Cluster. From some locations you may be able to see the Moon eclipse some of the stars.
The Leonid Meteor Shower reaches its peak at 6 UT November 18th which for the U.S.A. Central Time Zone (UT-6) the peak is at 12:00 am CST, (just after 11:59 pm CST on the 17th). This means that for my location Leo and the meteor radiant rise around midnight. And then after the meteor radiant and the constellation are above the horizon the reflected sunlight from the Moon will brighten the sky making it difficult to see any but the very brightest meteors.
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