On Tuesday evening October 27th, 2026, just after 7PM CDT, the moon rose here in Birmingham and passed in front of Messier 45. The wife and I (and the dog Barbie) had set up in a nearby parking lot where there is a clear view to the East; ready to observe this neat celestial event… but high, thin clouds to the East had other ideas.

The Moonrise was beautiful but a little too picturesque – you couldn’t see the Pleiades.

Later that evening around 10:30PM the clouds cleared and the transparency improved. I set my AT72ED on the back deck and took a peek. The 16 day old waning gibbous Moon and the almost 2 degree wide M45 were framed nicely in my old 20mm Nagler type5’s 3.6 deg FOV. I smiled a big smile.

No occultation but absolutely worth the effort.

In the early morning hours of November 24th in a few weeks – the Tuesday before Thanksgiving – we’ll get another chance to see the Moon get between us and M45. This time it will be in the West just before Moonset. The event will start around 3AM CST and continue until the Moon and M45 set shortly after 6AM CST.

I’ll try again then.

Fred