Features: Calendar | Lunar Almanac | Monthly Topic
This Month's Night Sky - NOTE: The next paragraph describes the sky as it
appears at 10 pm EST (11 pm EDT) near mid- month. The sky also looks
this way at 11 pm EST (midnight EDT) during the beginning of the month and
at 9 pm EST (10 pm EDT) by month's end.
As the days lengthen, the stars of the Winter Triangle
asterism disappear into the evening twilight. Now another
asterism, the Big Dipper (Ursa Major), is well placed for
observation. Follow the curve of its "handle" to the
bright star, Arcturus (Bootes) and continue on to another
bright star, Spica (Virgo) in the SE. Regulus (Leo) is
still high in the SW while Vega (Lyra), one of the stars
of the upcoming Summer Triangle, becomes visible in the NE.
Don't confuse bright Capella (Auriga) with the pale yellow
planet, Saturn, as it moves along the ecliptic in the NW.
Look for my favorite spring constellation, Corvus, with its
rather dim but distinctive kite-shaped asterism low in the
SSE. Later this month look for the familiar "W" shaped
asterism of constellation Cassiopeia high in the N. If you
follow a "line" along the end side of the Big Dipper's
"bowl" up about half way up to Cassiopeia, you will
discover Polaris (Ursa Minor). This is the North Star,
about which the rest of the stars appear to rotate.
Although MECURY reaches its "greatest elongation"
(height above the WNW horizon) a half hour after sunset,
at the end of the month, it should be visible by mid-month.
VENUS begins its best appearance of the year. By mid-month
it appears about halfway up the W sky at sunset, setting
about three and a half hours later. Tiny MARS is visible
low in the E at dawn. JUPITER rises about 11:30 PM by the
beginning of the month. It is best viewed low in the S.
By month's end, it will have risen some two hours earlier.
SATURN lies high in the S at sunset and sets as Jupiter
rises. The ETA AQUARID meteor shower peaks early in the
morning of the 5th. Unfortunately the brilliant gibbous
MOON will blot out all but the brightest events.
Calendar of Events
NOTE: For those observers not in the ET zone, convert the calendar times to your zone's time by subtracting one hour for CT, two for MT and three for PT. Don't forget to adjust for Daylight Savings Time when necessary by subtracting one hour from your planisphere's time.; Dawn and dusk times must also be corrected. See your local newspaper, TV news, or cable TV's Weather Channel for sunrise and sunset times. Unfortunately some of these events may occur during daylight hours in your area.
| DATE | EVENT |
02 |
Tonight's full Moon is called the "Milk Moon". |
05 |
The Eta Aquarid meteor shower peaks around 4 am on
the morning of the 5th. although it is active from
April 21st. through May 12th. Its radiant is the
constellation Aquarius and it results from the
debris left as Comet 1P/Halley crossed the Earth's
orbit. Unfortunately, the bright gibbous Moon will
greatly interfere with this shower. Look for
bright Jupiter shining high above the Moon. |
12 |
Look for a close conjunction (3 degrees) of the Moon and Mars at 0 pm EDT. |
17 |
If you have a view of the WNW horizon at dusk, look for Mercury below and to the left of the crescent Moon. |
19 |
Look WNW at dusk to see a close conjunction (less than 2 degrees) of the crescent Moon and Venus. |
31 |
May's second full Moon. This full Moon is called a Blue Moon because of its rarity. Since an Earth month averages about 30.4 days and a lunar month is only 27.3 Earth days long, occasionally an Earth month will contain two full Moons. Thus the phrase, "once in a blue moon" is sometimes used to describe an event that doesn't occur very often. At 9 pm, look for a very close "conjunction" (less than half a degree) of the Moon and the bright, reddish star, Antares (Scorpius). Don't be fooled! Because of its color, Antares is often mistaken for the planet Mars. |
| Phases of the Moon | Phase and Date(s) | Best viewed before local midnight |
 |
New |
Deep Space Objects |
 |
1st. Qtr |
Planets & Moon |
 |
Full |
Moon |
 |
Last |
Deep Space & Planets |
Topic of the month: Lunar feature: Aristoteles
| Located just south of Mare Frigoris, Aristoteles is a fine example of a young walled plain. It is one of the Moon's largest at some 60 miles across. Like many of the younger walled plains, Aristoteles shows "terracing" inside its walls. In some places the walls are over 11,000 feet high with many hills and domes spread across its floor. --See you next month ! |
| The above image was taken from Damian Peach's web site, " The Moon in Close Up" from Damian Peach's Views of the Solar System at www.damianpeach.com. This image is reproduced by permission. | |
This installment of "Whats Up?" is ©2007 Ronald A. Leeseberg, encoded by Dawn Jenkins for Astra's Stargate.
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