Don't miss the waxing moon swing by the Beehive star cluster March 27

Look to the southern sky as darkness falls on March 27 to see the thickening form of the waxing gibbous moon glowing close to the stars of the Beehive Cluster (M44) at the heart of the constellation Cancer, the crab.

Turn your telescope on the moon to see the dark expanses of lunar mare scarring its ancient surface, where lakes of liquid lava flooded impact craters before hardening in the space environment.

The 77%-lit moon will begin the night less than 2 degrees above the stars of the M44 open cluster, which plays host to roughly 1,000 gravitationally bound stars. The lunar disk will sweep right-to-left across the upper-stars of the Beehive over the course of the night, from the perspective of viewers in the northern hemisphere, at least, making its closest approach at 23:54 EDT (0354 GMT on March 28).