20060531 - Getting Close

Charlie spoke of this arrangement of crescent Moon, Saturn, and M44 sometime last week and sent an email alert today. He also sent a link to this NASA story about alignments happening in June, all around this same area. It's all happening in Cancer, do the astrologers have anything to say? (The sign of Cancer is in the constellation Gemini.)

Looking out my living room window to the west the halo about crescent Moon seems to remain constant in the hazy atmosphere. I can't see Asellus Borealis but can see Asellus Australis using bins. (The Aselli have the Bayer designations delta and gamma Cancri.) The glare is just too much to see anything nearby and it is stronger on the waxing crescent side. Maybe later when Moon has moved further in eastward circuit gamma Cnc maybe detectable. As for M44 - not a chance! Usually in the handheld bins on clear nights catching the pale glow and some of the resolved stars is a pretty easy task.