Since this is a monthly sky report, you want to hear about what you can see in the sky for the month of May! Hopefully May will be a little drier, at least on the nights that you choose to get out under the stars. There's nothing more frustrating than planning an outing only to have the weather interfere. May will offer a meteor shower that is produced by Halley's Comet, a close encounter between the Moon and M44, the Beehive Cluster, as well as the evening planets, Jupiter and Saturn, rising earlier with each passing night, meaning you won't have to stay up as late or wake up early to view them.
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| Mercury |
As usual, lets start the month off with Mercury. At the onset of May, Mercury can be found in the morning sky for the first few days. It will likely be too elusive for us to spot in Utah, so wait until the end of the month when it can be found in the evening sky. Since this dim planet is usually hard to spot, try using Mars and if you have a clear horizon, Betelgeuse can also help. Mercury can be found to the lower right of Mars, just above the horizon. If you can see Betelgeuse, Mercury can be found to the upper right. The three points of light will form an equilateral triangle on the final evening of the month when Mercury will reach its highest point in the western sky for May. If you are still having a hard time spotting this planet, a pair of binoculars can also help bring in more light which makes it easier for your eyes to detect.
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| Venus |
Once again, our sister planet can be found rising just before the Sun. On the first and second morning of the month, the crescent Moon can be found passing closely to Venus, within 4° on the 2nd. After this close pass, Venus will appear alone in the morning sky to the unaided eye. If you are able to get away from the city on the morning of the 18th, using a pair of binoculars or telescope, you can spot Uranus within 1.5° to the upper left of Venus. As the month comes to an end, the crescent Moon will be approaching Venus, creating another close pass of these two in early June.
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| Mars |
Mars can be found in the constellation of Taurus the Bull this month. This is fitting since Taurus is the zodiac sign for May. If you are unfamiliar with this constellation, it can be found about halfway between Orion and the Pleiades, with the face shaped like the letter "V". There is also a star cluster in this constellation known as the Hyades. Using a pair of binoculars or a telescope you should be able to spot them. Don't forget to check out the Pleiades while you have your equipment out. On May 6th, the crescent Moon will join the party. On the 7th, the Moon will pass within 3° of Mars. On the first evening of the month, Mars will dip below the western horizon shortly after 11:30 Mountain Time. By the end of the month, Mars will set just about 30 minutes earlier, just before 11 Mountain Time.
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| Jupiter |
Jupiter will rise in the east just after midnight Mountain Time on the 1st and nearly two hours earlier by months end. It can be found in the constellation of Ophiuchus. If you can get away from light pollution, you will notice that Jupiter will be near the bulge of the center of the Milky Way from our perspective. Don't forget to use your binoculars and telescope to view Jupiter and its moons. With a telescope you can see the cloud bands of this giant planet and you might even catch the shadow of one its moons as it transits. Jupiter will shine at magnitude -2.3 throughout the month. You might notice the red star, Antares, between 10° and 15° to the right of Jupiter. This star lies in the constellation of Scorpius.
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| Saturn |
Starting the month off, Saturn will rise in the southeast a couple of hours after Jupiter, at around 2 in the morning Mountain Time. By the end of the month, the ringed world will rise about 2 hours earlier, just after midnight. Saturn will brighten from magnitude 0.5 to 0.3 throughout the month as it approaches opposition. It can be found in the constellation of Sagittarius the Archer and will shine brighter than the stars in this constellation, making it easier to pick out. Using a telescope on Saturn will reveal the large ring system. A telescope of 4 inches or larger will reveal a few of the moons of Saturn, including Titan, the only known moon in our solar system to have an atmosphere.
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| Uranus |
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| Neptune |
The outermost planets will be hard to spot this month since they rise shortly before the Sun. May 18th will be your best chance of spotting Uranus by using Venus as your guide. Using a pair of binoculars, get Venus in your sights and slowly move to the upper left. You should be able to spot a bright "star" in your binoculars, this is Uranus! On the final day of the month, Neptune will be found around 20° high in the southeastern sky before dawn, making this morning the best chance of viewing the ice giant. You will need a pair of binoculars or telescope to spot this dim planet, which lies in the constellation of Aquarius.
Meteor Shower
The Eta Aquariid meteor shower will peak on the night of May 5th through the morning of May 6th. The best time to watch is around 2:30 in the morning Mountain Time when you can see up to 40 meteors per hour. This shower peaks under a New Moon so it should be worthwhile to watch. This shower is created by the debris left over from Comet Halley, which is predicted to return to our skies in 2061. The meteors appear to radiate from the region of the Aquarius constellation. This shower should be decent, so if your schedule allows, be sure to get away from city lights and watch these meteors.
Spot Me.....
On the night of the 10th, see if you can spot M44, the Beehive Cluster. You will need a pair of binoculars or a telescope and a dark sky free of light pollution will certainly help. The Beehive Cluster is an open star cluster meaning the star contained in the cluster are spread out with a few of them being close together. You can try to spot this cluster anytime during the month, but on the night of the 10th, the Moon can be found extremely close to the Beehive. Using the Moon as your guide, look to the lower right and you should be able to see this cluster. M44 lies in the constellation of Cancer the Crab which can be found directly above the constellation of Canis Minor, one of Orion's hunting dogs. Canis Minor can be found in the southwestern sky after sunset and will set by midnight Mountain Time. It consists of the star Procyon which shines at 0.4 magnitude, brighter than any of the closest stars.
You can also try to spot one of my favorite deep sky targets, M13, the Hercules Globular Cluster. This is a star cluster where the stars are more densely packed together. Your best views will be through a telescope, although you should be able to detect a "fuzzy blob" through a pair of binoculars. M13 will be peaking above the eastern horizon just after sunset, but if you are able, wait a few hours for it to climb higher in the sky so you won't have as much interference from the atmosphere. To find this cluster, look for the two bright stars that make up the "top" of the body of Hercules. If you center your telescope on the star closest to Polaris and slowly move towards the other star that makes up the top of the body, you should come across M13. Remember, the longer you look at it, the more detail your eye will pick up. You can also use a star chart or astronomy app to help in finding this cluster, although an app will likely ruin your night vision.
Monthly Breakdown
May 02: Moon and Venus pass within 4°
May 03: Moon and Mercury pass within 3°
May 04: New Moon 🌑
May 06: Eta Aquariid Meteor Shower Peaks (Morning)
May 07: Moon and Mars pass within 3°
May 10: Moon and M44 close approach
May 11: First Quarter Moon 🌓
May 18: Venus and Uranus pass within 2°
May 18: Full Moon 🌕
May 20: Moon and Jupiter pass within 2°
May 22: Moon and Saturn pass within 1°
May 26: Last Quarter Moon 🌗
May 27: Moon and Neptune pass within 4°
May 31: Moon and Uranus pass within 5°
Think About This....💡
Recently, there has been a lot of hype about the first image ever taken of a black hole. The image was taken by the Event Horizon Telescope which consists of telescopes all over planet Earth including Hawaii, Arizona, Spain, Mexico, Chile, and even the South Pole. Together, these telescopes combined to form an array of telescopes which targeted two super-massive black holes at the center of two different galaxies. The image of the black hole came from the galaxy with the exotic designation of M87. It received this name long before the Event Horizon Telescope was dreamt of. M87 is one of the largest galaxies in the observable universe and lies in the constellation of Virgo. This galaxy lies nearly 55 million light years away. That means it has taken 55 million years for the light we have detected for the first-ever image of a black hole to reach us here on Earth.
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| M87 Black Hole From Astronomy Picture of the Day |
The above image is M87 taken with the Spitzer Telescope. The top right enhancement is a zoomed in view of the center of this galaxy. The bright "stuff" coming out from the left and right of center are jets of ionized matter being ejected from the black hole. This "stuff" has a very high energy and travels at nearly the speed of light!
The lower right image is likely the image that most of you have seen. This image only takes up 1 pixel on a digital camera and had to be greatly enhanced to see, hence the lower resolution. This is the first ever picture of a black hole! The image was actually taken about two years ago in April 2017 by the Event Horizon Telescope, analyzed, and then finally released to the public.
The center of the image, perhaps obviously, is the black hole. This particular black hole is larger than our entire solar system! The glowing ring is actually called the Event Horizon and is light that has gathered at the edge of the black hole before falling "inside". The glowing ring is not in true color but a color scheme that shows the different levels of emissions with the white area being the highest level and red being the lowest area.
Stay tuned for more exciting news and events!
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| Now get outside and look up! |
Planet images taken by NASA.
Andrew vs. the Cosmos taken by Jeff Greenland.
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