Skywatch Line for Monday and Tuesday, May 5th and 6th, written by Joe Slomka
This is the Skywatch Line for Monday and Tuesday, May 5th and 6th. Written by Joe Slomka
The Sun sets at 8:01 PM; night falls at 9:54. Dawn breaks at 3:49 AM and ends with sunrise at 5:43.
Leo occupies the Moon on both nights. Monday’s sets at 2:51 AM in the southwest, appears 30 arc-minutes is size, 65% illuminated and rises at 1:14 PM; the waxing gibbous Moon shines 3° to the left of Regulus. Tuesday’s finds the Moon rising at 2:19 PM, 6° high, same size, 72% lit and sets at 3:12 AM on Wednesday. The Eta Aquariid meteor shower reaches its peak on both nights. It’s best seen in the Southern Hemisphere, but visible to northern viewers on both nights between 4 and 6 AM, before hidden by the Sun.
Jupiter is the first evening planet, rising in Taurus at 7:54 AM, shines, with minus 2nd magnitude, appearing with 33 arc-seconds, 19° at 9 PM and sets at 10:56 PM; the Great Red Spot is visible at 10 PM. Tuesday’s Great Red Spot shines at 3:48 AM.
Mars, in Cancer, rises at 11:22 AM, 1st magnitude, appears 6 arc-seconds and sets at 2:03 AM; it races across the sky 1/2 days.
Vesta rising at 8 PM in Libra, closest to Earth, highest at 1:51 AM, 5th magnitude, appears ½ arc-second, 99% bright; by 4 AM it appears in the Southwest 34° high in the southwest and sets at 7:38 AM. Comet F2 (SWAN) also inhabits our sky, rising at 7:55 AM, 6th magnitude, 16° in the West and sets at 10:35 PM.
Switching to Dawn, the planets are still bunched by sharing Venus, Saturn and Neptune. Eastern Venus is first, rising at 4:58 AM, shining with minus 4th magnitude, a large 33 arc-seconds, 3° high at 4 AM and sets at 5:17 PM. Saturn, rising at 4:07 AM, highest at 9:56 AM, 1st magnitude, 16 arc-seconds, 10° high and sets at 3:46 PM. Saturn moves from Aquarius to Pisces. Unlike Jupiter, Titan transits every 15 years. Titan is Saturn’s largest and brightest Moon, the Solar System’s second largest and the only moon that has an atmosphere and seas.
Neptune is faint, rising at 4:10 AM, glows with 8th magnitude, rises at 4:10 AM, 2 arc-seconds, 10° high and sets at 4:02 PM.
Mercury sits on the horizon this week.
Only two constellations refer to real people. Coma Berenices lies above Leo’s tail, and lost in the sunset. The other constellation, Scutum, is now visible in summer skies. Scutum is a dim constellation above teapot-shaped Sagittarius within the glorious Milky Way. It is the fifth smallest. The astronomer Johannes Hevelius (Helviusz) named it for the Polish King Jan Sobieski. The Ottoman Empire threatened to invade Europe. Sobieski commanded an allied army and stopped the Turks outside of Vienna. Hevelius created Scutum partially to commemorate this victory, but also to thank the king for rebuilding his Gdansk observatory.
Clear Skies Joe Slomka