Using the visual star hopping method the two open clusters can be found by first finding the bright star Sirius, easily found as it will be the brightest star on the southerly horizon. Another way to easily find Sirius would be to look to the south eastern most corner of the Orion constellation then sweep to the south east a little further to find the two brightest stars of the Canis Major constellation; Sirius & Mirzam. Once you have found these two bright stars of Canis Major visually sweep to the East with your binoculars in a near straight line drawn through Mirzam & Sirius dropping off ever so slightly to the south and you find the two clusters. The two Messier Open Clusters M46 & M47 will be at the highest point on the visual horizon passing through or reaching the zenith on the southern horizon @ approximately 2215 - 22:40 EST (03:00 - 03:30 UT) through the week of 03/11/07.
Allow your eyes to dark adapt for a bit (20 minutes or so) & use the averted vision technique you should be able to get a good look at both of these clusters through your binoculars, If you have a good deal of light pollution in your observing area these two clusters will be harder to distinguish in your binoculars and may require a telescope of F5 - F8 in the range 3 inches or above to get a good look at. The Moon rise times & phases over this week should allow you to get in some good observation time for these two open clusters with out glaring the night sky out! Have fun take a little extra time go ahead and scan around the constellation of Canis Major while you in that area of the sky, there are several more nice "dim fuzzies" to be seen in your binoculars or small telescope!
Clear Skies!
Mark Jordan
( 39.79020N x 85.81410W )
