On 13 April, the moon sits squarely in Cancer, the Crab. The moon will be at first quarter, growing towards full and will be right next to the star cluster known as the Beehive. Cancer itself is one of the fainter zodiacal constellations. From a dark site, the Beehive cluster can be seen with the unaided eye. It looks like a faint smudge. The first written description of it comes from Ptolemy in the 2nd century AD in his astronomical treatise Almagest, and it was also one of the first targets at which Galileo looked with his telescope in 1609. He resolved the nebula into about 40 individual stars. Modern telescopes have shown that it contains more than 1,000 stars and lies around 600 light years from Earth. The chart shows the view on 13 April at 2200 BST. It is unlikely that you will see the star cluster during the evening of the encounter, as the light from the moon will wash away the fainter stars but it will work as a place marker. Memorise the position of the moon at that time in relationship with the fainter stars of the constellation and then return on subsequent nights to look for the cluster.
