Saturday,  April 28, 2012 • Vol. 12--No. 289 • 19 of 48 •  Other Editions

Use moon to locate Cancer the Crab on April 28

• The moon can guide you to the Cancer the Crab tonight among the stars. When the moon moves away, you can glimpse a treasure within Cancer. You've probably heard of the constellation Cancer, but there's a good chance you've never seen it. As constellations go, Cancer the Crab is probably the least seen among the most famous constellations. Its primary competitors in the famous-but-not-recognizable category are probably Aries the Ram and Aquarius the Water Bearer.
• Why is Cancer so elusive? Simply because it's faint. Cancer's brightest star is magnitude

Courtesy U.S. Naval Observatory

3.5, meaning that none of these stars is visible from light-polluted cities or suburbs.
• That's why tonight might be your night. The wide waxing crescent moon shines right in front of this famous constellation this evening, so when you gaze in the moon's direction you are gazing toward Cancer.
• Alas, the moon is very bright, and Cancer is faint. Even if you have a dark sky, the bright light of the moon will wash out this constellation's stars from view. But before you give up on your quest to see Cancer, consider this. The stars don't move relative to each other. That fact might enable you to locate the constellation Cancer later this month, assuming you are standing under a dark sky.
• Here's how to do it. Look for the stars in the vicinity of tonight's moon, as shown on the chart at the top of this post. Tonight, you'll see the two bright Gemini stars, Castor and Pollux, to the right of the moon, and the bright star Regulus and the red planet Mars to the left.
• Starting the second week of May 2012, the moon will have dropped out of the evening sky, and you'll be able to identify Cancer glimmering between Regulus and

(Continued on page 20)

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