Sunday 1st May Mercury/M45 pass and early Moon

[Paz]

I've had an eye on Mercury and the moon recently and notice that on Sunday 1st May a couple of interesting events occur...

Mercury does a fly-by of M45. The sun goes below the horizon at about 8.30pm (Midlands, UK) when Mercury is over 16 degrees high with over 2 hours to go before Mercury hits the horizon. The whole of M45 and Mercury will fit in the fov of a smallish scope and may be a nice sight. The picture below is a 72mm f6 scope and a 32mm 50 degree 1.25" eyepiece.

The other opportunity (and a tougher one?) is the moon. At the time the sun goes out of sight the moon will be just under 7 degrees high and only 0.8% illuminated. I've no idea if that is possible to see but it would be interesting to try for.

The Mercury/M45 opportunity is possible a day or so either way (in fact the closest approach is the 29th i.e  tonight) but the moon opportunity is only on Sunday (for this cycle).

 

Edited April 29, 2022 by Paz

[Pete Presland]

Been watching as well,  hopefully another chance to grab an image or two as well.  Forecast is not great for Sunday unfortunately though,  but either should ok for the Mercury/M45  flyby 🙂

[bish]

I've been trying to watch Mercury and m45 for a few days but been clouded out that part of the sky.

[neil phillips]

Yep clouds here too. Wanted to catch Mercury