Starwatch: the waxing gibbous moon moves into Cancer

Starwatch chart 11 March 2019 moon waxing gibbous

This week the moon passes through its first quarter phase, when half of the visible surface is illuminated. It occurs on 14 March and marks the moment when the moon stops being a waxing crescent and becomes a waxing gibbous moon. In another week’s time, it will be full. The chart shows the moon’s position in the southern sky on 17 March at 20:00 GMT. Its visible surface will be 85% illuminated and it will be sitting smack in the middle of the faint constellation Cancer, the crab. This is one of the 12 zodiacal constellations, which were some of the first to be defined thousands of years ago. Ironically the bright moon will make it even more difficult to see the faint stars of Cancer but it will mark the constellation’s location in the sky. Remember it. It is well worth being able to identify Cancer because just to the right of the central stars is a prize for naked eye observers: a faint star cluster called the Beehive, or Praesepe. To look for this star cluster, you must be far from city lights as it will only appear as a faint smudge.