Moon very close to Pluto

Event Date: November 16th

Time: 6:30 AM

Brief

   For what it's worth, I will show a very easy way to find dim, dwarf planet Pluto this evening, although it still may be hard to see as a result of the crescent Moon's light.  True, crescents don't affect the overall sky too often.  However, when trying to see 14th magnitude Pluto, a dark sky is a must for all but the largest telescopes to see it.  Pluto is over 3 billion years away and smaller than our own Moon, which we see more than 12,000x closer to us than the dwarf planet!  Therefore, the apparent magnitude of the Moon (about t-8) is millions of times that of Pluto as a crescent, and even brighter of course when full.

   Although the zoom-out before will not show Pluto, we can still see the proximity of the Moon with it, at less than 1/2º.  If you know this, and can find other stars nearby in patterns, a strong telescope of at least 10" on a very clear night might help you see Pluto looking more like a very faint star.

Detailed

   Zooming in, we can see the Moon's orbit and how it almost occulted Pluto seen by those in locations further east of us.  By including the orbit, I am not showing the Moon's minute by minute track across Pluto, although the slow precession of the nodes makes it seem that way.

   As the Moon continues to make orbits around us, passing this part of the sky each time, its orbit will swing it north or south of Pluto, while the planet's orbit has an odd inclination; one moreso than our Moon's 5 1/2º.  Instead, Pluto has an orbit inclination of 17º at its extremes, putting it in constellations that the Moon's orbit doesn't even reach!  Take a look below, as the FOV is 5º.  Although still barely magnified enough to see Pluto with some smaller telescopes, including both shows the Moon about to reach the node slightly further west of it. The Moon and Pluto at this moment are about 1.2º apart, although earlier in the afternoon, they were closer at 0.7º.  For this image, it is the time shown as above, when they are 1.4º apart.

click on images to enlarge: courtesy of Starry Night Pro Plus, version 6.4.3, by Simulation Curriculum Corp.