MAY  2008

MAY STAR MAP | STARWATCH INDEX | MOON PHASE CALENDAR

Print Large Sky Charts For 10 p.m. EDT:   NORTH | EAST | SOUTH | WEST | ZENITH

 

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Current Moon Phase

611a  MAY 4, 2008:   Mercury, Moon Highlight Evening Sky

In the never overly spectacular spring sky, the planets and the moon continue to steal the spotlight. Although Mercury is highest in the sky on May 13, this week probably affords the best opportunity for viewing the smallest of the official planets. Its brightness will be decreasing during May as Mercury continues to move towards inferior conjunction on June 7, a location that puts it between the Earth and the sun, where the hemisphere of Mercury facing Earth is in darkness, just like a new moon. Look WNW about 45 minutes after sundown. Scan the horizon using binoculars, slightly above and to the left of the brightest region of horizon glow. Mercury should be obvious as a bright and slowly twinkling starlike object about one full binocular field above an unobscured horizon. Mercury is really an equal opportunity planet, successfully observed from a rural or an urban setting. Since there is usually a substantial amount of twilight glow still visible in the sky when Mercury sightings are made, city dwellers who live in high rise apartments with a WNW exposure can also partake of the Mercury experience if they use binoculars. If you’re anxious to identify Mercury, you simply cannot beat this Tuesday evening if the sky is cooperative. Look for Mercury just two degrees below a razor thin crescent moon, a fine pairing worthy of capturing digitally. Make sure that your camera is tripod mounted because you will need to exposure its sensor to light for several seconds. I would suggest setting your ASA between 400 and 800. If you can adjust the F-stop of your camera, try F/5.6. Don’t forget to set your distance to infinity, and examine your images to make sure they are sharp. The trick will be not to let the horizon glow overpower your image, allowing the moon, Mercury, and the sky to be equally represented.

611b  MAY 7, 2008:   Crescent Moon Heads Towards Mars

In the never overly spectacular spring sky, the planets and the moon continue to steal the spotlight. Although Mercury is highest in the sky on May 13, this week probably affords the best opportunity for viewing the smallest of the official planets. Its brightness will be decreasing during May as Mercury continues to move towards inferior conjunction on June 7, a location that puts it between the Earth and the sun, where the hemisphere of Mercury facing Earth is in darkness, just like a new moon. Look WNW about 45 minutes after sundown. Using binoculars, scan the horizon slightly above and to the left of the brightest region of horizon glow. Mercury should be obvious as a bright, slowly twinkling, starlike object about one full binocular field above an unobscured horizon. Mercury is really an equal opportunity planet, successfully observed from a rural or an urban setting. Because a substantial amount of twilight glow is usually visible in the sky when Mercury sightings are made, city dwellers who live in high rise apartments with a WNW exposure can also partake of the Mercury experience if they use binoculars. On Tuesday evening, Mercury appeared below a razor thin crescent moon, an exceptional sight for those who were able to find an unobscured WNW horizon. During the next several days, follow the eastward path of the moon across the sky as it waxes, and you’ll see that it is headed for three stars almost in a straight line. By Friday, the moon will lie just under Pollux of the Gemini Twins. To the right will be brother Castor, and to Pollux’s left will be reddish Mars, which has become fainter over the past several months as Earth has pulled away from the Red Planet. On Saturday, Luna stands above and left of Mars passing just under a star cluster called the Beehive during the early evening hours.

A thin waxing crescent moon with plenty of earthshine pauses by Mercury on the warm and hazy East Coast evening of May 6. A Canon 40D camera equipped with a 70-200mm telephoto lens and 2x extender was piggybacked to an equatorial mount. The image was exposed for 10 seconds at an effective focal length of 320mm, F/5.6, at ASA 640. The star to just to the left of the moon and about to be occulted is +5.38 magnitude Chi Tauri. Image by Gary A. Becker from Coopersburg, PA...

612    MAY 11, 2008:   Are You Smarter Than a Fifth Grader?

I have always been intrigued with elementary students. I recently taught third graders from Jefferson School, located at 750 St. John Street in Allentown. Their orientation session preparing them for their planetarium visit had occurred in early February. Then through a number of transportation snafus and Allentown School District regulations regarding field trips during the ramp-up period prior to and during the PSSA testing, they were unable to have their planetarium program until just last week. The children were absolutely amazing, remembering information that I had taught them months ago. Undoubtedly, part of the credit is due to Jefferson’s fine teaching staff, but recognition must also be given to the insatiable appetite of kids to ask questions and simply “suck in” facts and ideas as efficiently as an Electrolux vacuum cleaner sucks up dirt. So when Fox’s Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader debuted 14 months ago, it was bound for a singular kind of success. There is nothing like being humiliated by a kid in front of 24 million viewers. In Allentown, fifth grade teams from across the District will soon be battling each other in what has become a planetarium tradition, The Planet Quiz Show. The program is on-line at the URL posted below, and by just clicking on the PQS banner, you can be magically transported to the questions that fifth graders will be competing to know. Just be careful because a lot has changed in the last few years. When I was asked in third grade to name the planets in their correct order, I chose to start with Pluto and recite them backwards. My teacher began consulting with me about other astronomical facts, and a career in astronomy was probably forged in that classroom at Jefferson Elementary—graduating class of 1962.

613    MAY 18, 2008:   

614    MAY 25, 2008: