May Night Skies
A brief overview of what to see in the sky with the unaided eye during May evenings:
Stars and Constellations
Some prominent constellations visible in the evening sky are Bootes, Corona Borealis and Hercules
Follow the ‘handle’ stars of the Big Dipper star group southward to the star Arcturus in Bootes. Arcturus and Bootes continue to be prominent most of the night
Arcturus is a bright (first magnitude) orange star nearly overhead during spring evenings
Corona Borealis is a distinct (in dark skies) “C” shaped group of stars east of (or below) Bootes
Hercules is also a reasonably distinct constellation surrounding a “keystone” shaped group of stars east of Corona Borealis
The bright constellation Leo is high in the western sky during spring evenings
Planets
Mercury and Venus both rise before the sun in the pre-dawn sky but remain very low in the sky and practically non-visible during May
Mars is visible before sunrise very low in the eastern sky in the Pisces constellation
Jupiter is not visible during May, except that it may be visible with difficulty during early May low in the western evening sky and during late May low in the pre-dawn sky
Saturn is visible in the southeastern pre-dawn sky in the Aquarius constellation
Moon Phases
Last Quarter Moon May 1, 07:27 EDT
New Moon May 7, 23:22 EDT
First Quarter Moon May 15, 07:48 EDT
Full Moon May 23, 09:53 EDT
Noteworthy Sky Events
May 5: Eta Aquarid meteor shower peaks, but it remains active until late May
May 31: Moon is very close to (just south of) Saturn in the pre-dawn sky
Sky Resources Online
Some website resources for sky charts, weekly sky events, and more information:
astrogeo.ca/skylights
www.heavens-above.com
In-the-sky.org
www.skyandtelescope.org
www.skymaps.com
Star Chart for mid-May, mid-evening (courtesy of www.heavens-above.com):
