For May 2024, the moon is last quarter on May 1. On May 3, the waning crescent in the dawn passes just south of Saturn, then close to Mars and Mercury on May 6. It is new on May 8, a month after the historic totality in April. The first quarter moon is on May 15, and the Full Flower Moon is on May 23. It returns to last quarter in May, marking the 27.3-day-long synodic month for the moon to return to the same phase (last quarter in this case). And it again passes slow-moving Saturn on May 31, marking the 29.5-day sidereal month to return to the same place among the stars. This two-day difference in these months is of course because the moon is moving along with our revolving earth around the Sun, so it needs these two extra days to play catch up with our earth-sun alignment with the background stars!
Mercury is in the dawn, and at greatest western elongation at mid-month. Venus is lost in the Sun’s glare, not to return to the evening skies until summer. Mars is low in the east at dawn, and will not return in the evening skies until winter. Jupiter is vanishing into the sun’s glare at dusk as well. Only Saturn, well up the dawn sky, is far enough from the Sun for good telescopic viewing, and its rings are closing down, compared to last year, as it approaches its own equinox when its rings disappear with earth-based scopes as we view them.
For a detailed map of northern hemisphere skies, visit skymaps.com.
The winter constellations will soon be swallowed up in the Sun’s glare, but Orion is still visible, with its famed Orion Nebula, M-42, seen below the three stars marking his famed belt. Dominating the southwest is the Dog Star, Sirius, the brightest star of the night sky. When Sirius vanishes into the Sun’s glare in two months, this sets the period as “Dog Days.”
The brightest star in the northwest is Capella, distinctively yellow in color. It is a giant star, almost exactly the same temperature as our Sun, but about 100X more luminous. Just south of it are the stellar twins, the Gemini, with Castor closer to Capella, and Pollux closer to the Little Dog Star, Procyon.
Overhead, the Big Dipper rides high. Good scouts know to take its leading pointers north to Polaris, the famed Pole Star. For us, it sits 30 degrees (our latitude) high in the north, while the rotating earth beneath makes all the other celestial bodies spin around it from east to west.
If you drop south from the bowl of the Big Dipper, Leo the Lion rides high. Note the Egyptian Sphinx is based on the shape of this Lion in the sky. The “regal” star Regulus marks the heart of the celestial lion. Taking the arc in the Dipper’s handle, we “arc” southeast to bright orange Arcturus, the brightest star of spring. Cooler than our yellow Sun, and much poorer in heavy elements, some believe its strange motion reveals it to be an invading star from another smaller galaxy, now colliding with the Milky Way in Sagittarius in the summer sky. Moving almost perpendicular to the plane of our Milky Way, Arcturus was the first star in the sky where its proper motion across the historic sky was noted, by Edmund Halley. Just east of Arcturus is Corona Borealis, the “northern crown,” a shapely Coronet that Miss America would gladly don, and one of few constellations that look like their name. The bright star in the crown’s center is Gemma, the Gem Star. But it may be rivaled in just a few days or weeks.
Spike south to Spica, the hot blue star in Virgo, then curve to Corvus the Crow, a four-sided grouping. The arms of Virgo harbor the Virgo Supercluster of Galaxies, with thousands of “island universes” in the Spring sky. We are looking away from the place of the thickly populated Milky Way, now on the southern horizon, toward the depths of intergalactic space.
Because we live farther south than most Americans, we get a fine view of the closest and brightest globular star clusters, Omega Centauri, on May evenings. From a dark sky site, you can spot it with your naked eyes about 12 degrees above the southern horizon when it is at its highest in the south, about 9 p.m. at the end of the month. Ideally, observe it at the beach, where the Gulf is your southern horizon. It is fine in binoculars and resolves beautifully into about a million suns with larger scopes.
To the northeast Hercules rises, with his body looking like a butterfly. It contains one of the sky’s showpieces, M-13, the globular cluster faintly visible with the naked eye. Find it with the T Corona borealis chart on the previous page midway on the top left wing of the cosmic butterfly, then take a look with a larger telescope and you will find it resolved into thousands of stars. Still, it is smaller and farther away than omega, and pales in comparison, but is high enough to be observed for observing it for several hours. Omega is only out for about two hours an evening in the far southern sky.
The Escambia Amateur Astronomers return to Casino Beach for our Pavilion Stargaze Season on the first quarter moon. Meet us south of the famed Beach Ball Water Tower and bring your smartphone to image the Sun (before sunset with our solar scopes), Moon, and constellations. We have free star charts and will show you what’s up. The gazes, if clear skies permit, will be on the Fridays and Saturdays May 17-18, June 14-15, (none in July), August 16-17, and September 13-14, and wrap them up on October 11-12. Download the Unistellar and Nocturne apps for your smartphones to capture live images with our Wi-Fi-enabled digital telescopes. We can have up to ten “observers” sharing the images of these amazing new systems.
For deep skies with much less light pollution, on the Saturdays of the third quarter moon we continue our cooperation with the Florida State Parks at Big Lagoon State Park. Here the emphasis is on learning to observe and photograph the night sky with binoculars or your own telescopes and smartphones or other cameras. While the Pavilion parking is free, normal entry fees to Big Lagoon still apply, and remember to check in the front gate before it closes at sunset! We encourage the many campers and scout troops to join us at our site, at the north end of the boat ramp access road. Our gazes for best imaging of the Milky Way, constellations, and other galaxies are on these Saturdays: June 1, June 29, July 19, August 24, September 21, and October 28.
For more information on the Escambia Amateur Astronomers, join us on Facebook, visit our website at sites.google.com/view/escambiaastronomers, or call Dr. Wayne Wooten at (850) 291-9334, or email him at johnwaynewooten@gmail.com. Be aware of “pop-up” gazes when clear skies permit at the Airport Approach on Langley at McAlister for special help sessions, ISS passes, etc., as announced on Facebook.
