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February 5: Galaxy M106 in Canes Venatici
M44 is famously known as the Beehive Cluster in Cancer, but the Crab has a second stellar offering that is often overlooked: M67. Located southeast of M44, this 6th-magnitude group of stars is a similarly great target for beginners with small scopes.
After you’ve enjoyed M44 in central Cancer, it’s just an 8.3° slide south-southeast of M44 to land on M67. (Or, you can move 1.7° due west of 4th-magnitude Alpha Cancri.) At some 3.2 billion years old, M67 is more ancient than many open clusters. It has some 200 white dwarfs, the cooling remnants of Sun-like stars.
M67 covers nearly the same area as the Full Moon on the sky, and at least two dozen of its stars are visible in small scopes. Larger scopes will bring out even more stars, so observers with bigger instruments shouldn’t skip this one!
Sunrise: 7:03 A.M.
Sunset: 5:26 P.M.
Moonrise: 10:51 P.M.
Moonset: 9:14 A.M.
Moon Phase: Waning gibbous (72%)
*Times for sunrise, sunset, moonrise, and moonset are given in local time from 40° N 90° W. The Moon’s illumination is given at 10 P.M. local time from the same location.
