03-05-2008 May Night Sky (Article135)

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Simon Kenny
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Location: Shannon, Co. Clare, Ireland

03-05-2008 May Night Sky (Article135)

Post by Simon Kenny » Fri Jan 02, 2009 4:17 pm

May Night Sky (Article135)

With May been the first month of the summer, daylight begins to reach far into the evening. At the start of the month it doesn’t get really dark until about 10.30pm and by the end of the month you can still see a faint glow on the northern horizon at midnight caused by the Sun.
May gives us our best observing opportunity in 2008 to catch the planet Mercury. It is visible at the start of the month as a faint star on the western horizon at 9.30pm in the constellation Taurus just after sunset. It will remain visible for the following 2 weeks and is best seen on the 15th of May. After that date the planet starts its rapid plunge towards the Sun and is all but gone by the end of the month. To the unaided eye it will appear as a star point. Through a telescope it will present a crescent phase for the first half of the month and an ever increasing phase afterwards. A flat western horizon is needed to observe this. Wait until the sun is fully below the horizon as the sky will be still too bright to see it. A warning about using binoculars or telescopes pointed at the sun. Instant and irreversible blindness will result if you glimpse the Sun through binoculars or a telescope, so make sure the sun has fully set before scanning the area.
Following to the northeast of Mercury is the planet Mars, a red star that moves from Gemini to Cancer as the month progresses. On the nights of the 23rd and 24th, take a look at Mars using binoculars and you’ll see that it is surrounded by a sprinkling of stars. These are the stars of the Beehive star cluster of which Mars is passing in front of.
Close to the northeast of Mars is the planet Saturn, always a magnificent view through a telescope with its ring system. Visually, through a telescope, you might be able to see some faint stars near the planet, which are the brighter moons of Saturn. Larger telescopes can easily see up to 8 moons in orbit of this planet. It is easy to pick out Saturn, as it is approximately 2 degrees (4 moon diameters) from Regulus, the brightest star in Leo. On the night of the 12th, the Moon passes 3 degrees below them.
By the middle of the month, at 3am, you will be able to see the planet Jupiter skimming the southern horizon.
At the start of the month, the moon is visible as a crescent just before sunrise, but is soon lost in the glare of the Sun. With a new moon on the 5th, the moon then re-emerges into the evening sky and will become visible as a thin evening crescent from the 7th onwards, becoming a half moon by the 12th, easily visible in the evenings. From this point onwards the moon becomes lower in the sky and on the 20th (1am) you will see the full moon low in the south in the constellation Libra. By the end of the month, the moon becomes an early morning object as it phase becomes half again.

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