MAY 2010–OBSERVING
HIGHLIGHTS
MOON:
Last
quarter - 6th
New
moon – 13th
First
quarter - 22ndt
Full
moon – 27th
VENUS : Look to the West after sunset , and you can't miss
Venus. The brightest point of light in the sky shines at a magnitude of -3.9
and stands nearly 20 degrees above the horizon 45 minutes after sunset. It
remains on view until after 10 PM local daylight time. On May
15th Venus and a nearby crescent moon make a great photogenic
moment. This month Venus will look better through binoculars than a
telescope.
MARS:
The Red Planet now lies quite far from Earth, some 130 million miles, in mid
May, and thus appears small. Mars' disk measures 7” across, so you'll need a
12” or larger telescope to see any detail worth appreciated. Although Mars will
remain bright for several more months, the disk's diminishing size renders
telescopic views disappointing at best.
SATURN:
Fortunately Saturn makes up for Mars' diminishing appeal. The ringed planet
looks stunning through a telescope and remains visible nearly all night. You
can find it high in the South after sunset around 45 degrees. The rings tip
just 1.7 degrees to our line of sight in the second half of May, the minimum
tilt in 2010. By the end of the year the rings will tilt an impressive 10
degrees.
JUPITER:
Jupiter rises an hour after
URANUS: Uranus
lies in the same binocular field as Jupiter. The two begin May nearly 5 degrees
apart but the gap narrows to 1 degree by month's end. Uranus lies
North East to Jupiter. Like Jupiter, views of Uranus will grow much better this
summer.
MERCURY: Mercury
lies just 5 degrees above the Eastern horizon 30 minutes before sunrise. It
glows at magnitude 0.4 and appears as a bright point when you scan the twilight
sky with binoculars. A telescope shows a disk 8 arc seconds in diameter and
just 39 percent lit.
The
ETA Aquarid meter shower peaks before dawn on May 6th.
A last quarter moon interferes with the view, but observers still should see
10-20 shooting stars per hour.
The
10th magnitude C/2009 K5 ( McNaught)
passes near the 2nd magnitude star Polaris in the 2nd
half of May making it an easy target.