The Planets for MAY:
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Mercury - Mercury can be found in very bright twilight
(telescopically) just east of Uranus at sunrise at midmonth. However overall
this is a very poor month to see our innermost planet - in PISCES
Venus - our brightest planet will be Venus, as it
presents a "gibbous phase" toward Earth this month and gives us an
incredible opportunity to enjoy our "Evening Star" throughout the
month as it shine high in western dark skies as late as 7:30 p.m. - in TAURUS.
Mars - Mars is now rapidly decreasing its distance to
earth and hence becoming brighter and larger; at nearly 13" arc diameter
this month, at midmonth Mars will be south of overhead at the break of dawn,
one of the brightest objects in the sky; look for bright yellow SATURN to its
right (west) at the "top of the teapot" of Sagittarius, and note that
PLUTO is located almost midway between these two bright planets (see
below). - in SAGITTARIUS
Jupiter - At opposition on MAY 9, visible from sunset to
sunrise and favorably placed overhead at midnight! It is quite large and bright this month,
being almost 45" arc in diameter, nearly four times the apparent size of
Mars in your telescope - in VIRGO
Saturn - The magnificent ringed planet will be high overhead
for northern latitudes at about 4:30 a.m. local time and will be dominant as
mighty Jupiter is setting in the west at this time. This is a wonderful month to view the ring
system. Nearly all month look for Saturn
just to the right (west of) the bright red planet MARS. Distant Pluto is between these two as well. -
in SAGITTARIUS
Uranus - distant planet Uranus is rising very shortly
before the sun at mid-month, about 5 a.m. local time. Look for Uranus VERY close to elusive little
Mercury on the 15th at about dawn in eastern skies; Uranus attains magnitude
5.9, which in theory should make it visible to the naked eye. Uranus will rise a bit early each morning as
we approach summer. - in PISCES
Neptune - Our most distant world other than of Pluto, is
now rising about an three hours before twilight in the east; at magnitude 7.8,
it is visible in small telescopes as a star-like object with little or no
detail visible - in AQUARIUS
Pluto - at magnitude 14.2, our most distant planet
(yes....it is a planet) rises about midnight and is south of overhead by dawn,
just east of the "teapot" in Sagittarius and midway between brilliant
yellow Saturn to its west and ruddy red MARS to its east. - in SAGITTARIUS
Meteor Showers for May 2018
For May, there are three meteor showers, some of which
provide for wonderful spring sky shows, provided that the light of the moon
does not interfere. However, as with all
months and times during the year, observers should always be aware that new
sporadic meteor showers can occur at anytime from seemingly unknown sources and
radiants. MAY is always an excellent
time to go outside and view the heavens and the interloping meteors among them;
typically in most locations, whether spring in the northern hemisphere or fall
in the southern, the skies are crisp and clear. Most of May’s meteor showers
occur early in the month. NOTE that
maximum meteor counts can ONLY be seen with the absence of the MOON in the
sky....consult the daily calendar below for moon phases during May.
May 1 – PHI BOOTID METEORS - A really long term meteor
shower that actually begins on or about April 16 and persists until May 12,
emanating from the constellation of Bootes AND Hercules (the radiant has indeed
moved in recent years!), high in the eastern sky at dark, and remain so for
most of the night for northern latitudes.
The best time to observe the most of these meteors is always about 2
a.m. local time. About 6 meteors can be seen per hour, most medium bright,
relative fast and pretty much overhead, all traced back to northwestern
Hercules. Nearly FULL moon throughout
this shower for 2018.
May 3 – ALPHA SCORPIID METEORS - The peak of this shower
takes place during the week of this year’s nearly full moon, so the faintest
members of this meteor shower will not be seen for several nights before and
after the actual peak date. The minor
meteor shower is another long duration one, beginning in early April on the
Libra-Scorpius border and slowly moving into the constellation of Ophiuchus by
May 9! The motion of this radiant is of
much interest to astronomers and your detection of meteors from night to night
as to where they appear to originate is very important; the radiant will rise
in the far southeastern sky about 9 p.m. local time and be overhead at 1 p.m.
the following morning.
May 5-6 – ETA AQUARID METEORS - Strong Gibbous Moon in
sky for 2018.....Normally one of the finest meteor showers of each year, the
Eta Aquarid meteors were recorded as early as 401 A.D. by the ancient Chinese
stargazers.....now we know them to be part of TWO debris clouds left in the
wake of famous HALLEY’s COMET through which the earth passes each year. Meteors can be seen from this shower all the
time from April 21 through May 12, but the peak is fairly steep and occurs each
year on May 4.....look for brilliant and spectacularly exciting fireballs from
May 9 through 11. The radiant for this
meteor shower is located very near the star asterism known as “The Water Jar”
in Aquarius, but moves a bit northeast each day through the long period the
meteoric cloud persists around the earth.
Note that this meteor shower for northern latitudes is very low in
southern skies...most meteors should be seen coming from the EAST horizon (not
overhead like most showers!) about 2 a.m......but by 7 a.m., note that the most
frequent meteors appear to originate about halfway from that point to
overhead. On most dates with not-so-dark
skies up to 10 Eta Aquarids per hour might be expected, most bright and leaving
glowing “fireball” trails behind them.
Thus, most years are excellent in hopes of seeing these fine meteors,
and the very faint as well as the many bright fireballs may be seen.
