The crescent Moon visits the lovely star cluster known as Praesepe (the Manger) or the Beehive.
See the end note about enlarging illustrations. Arrows through the moving bodies show their movement (against the starry background) from 2 days earlier to 2 days later. The Sun is exaggerated 2 times in size. The Moon is exaggerated 4 times in size. It is shown at its apparent position for the location on Earth, displaced by parallax; the arrows are along its path as seen from the center of the Earth.
I have had to take a month off from blogging because of working under deadline pressure to get the new Astronomical Companion ready for publication.
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This weblog maintains its right to be about astronomy or anything under the sun.
ILLUSTRATIONS in these posts are made with precision but have to be inserted in another format. You may be able to enlarge them on your monitor.
One way: right-click, and choose ”View image” or ”Open image in new tab”, then enlarge. Or choose ”Copy image”, then put it on your desktop, then open it. On an iPad or phone, use the finger gesture that enlarges (spreading with two fingers, or tapping and dragging with three fingers). Other methods have been suggested, such as dragging the image to the desktop and opening it in other ways.
Sometimes I make improvements or corrections to a post after publishing it. If you click on the title, rather than on ‘Read more’, I think you are sure to see the latest version. Or, if you click ‘Refresh’ or press function key 5, you’ll see the latest version.
I’ve been missing your blog posts, Guy, but I am so excited to read that the reason for the silence is your work to complete the new edition of the Astronomical Companion. I am looking forward to this new book SO MUCH! Thank you for all that you do for the astronomical community. I am a fan for over thirty years, and value the work that you do more than you could ever know.