Besides sprouting those May flowers, the recent rains have delighted the mosquitoes, so the $64,000 question is will they allow you outside this week? If you put on plenty of repellent, it will be worth the battle to see Venus so stunningly bright against the deep sapphire blue of the western sky just past sunset. It is easy to see how star sapphires got their name. Venus and Mars drift along the ecliptic for us to enjoy, with Venus well up in the SW as full darkness sets in. Mars will have changed position from last week’s location and the distances will continue to change over the next several weeks.
If you have developed an enthusiasm for stargazing, you may be ready to keep a list of “trophies,” much as birders do. A small notebook to record your viewing highlights will offer a broad spectrum of celestial specimens. If you are interested in having a Scavenger Hunt list of suggestions, reach out to the starsociety.org site and request a list to check off as you “bag” your trophies. Astronomy is one of the few hobbies that requires lots of expensive equipment or none at all — depending on how “enthusiastic” your budget allows you to be.
The clear mild May evenings make a great time for family adventuring in sky watching. Look for the Milky Way to lie along the horizon in the direction of Virgo and think about the fact that you are looking out of the plane of our galaxy! Now that’s a mind-boggling experience. Earth is standing straight up and down in our galaxy, parallel to the axis.
Look for Boötes, the kite-shaped constellation in the eastern sky that contains Arcturus. Allow your gaze to track just below and left of golden Arcturus. Do you notice a semi-circle of stars there? This is the Corona Borealis. Hercules is just below and left of it. Hercules is shaped roughly like a cornerstone, or trapezoid, with “arms” of stars extending out from each corner. If you visit a neighbor who has a telescope, this is where you may spot a real trophy, M13.
What’s M13? I thought you’d never ask! It is the brightest globular cluster on the northern skies. A globular cluster is a loosely formed grouping of stars that is just a blob, not a definite pattern. Seen through a decent telescope, it is a breath-taking sight. In 1784, a French astronomer, Charles Messier, compiled a list of fuzzy objects that he saw in the sky and gave them each a number so that he would not be confused when he was searching for comets, which are also fuzzy appearing.
They turned out to be fascinating deep sky objects; amateur astronomers enjoy having contests to see who can spot the most Messier objects in one session. “Bagging” the most Messier’s is a big deal, and May is a perfect time to go hunting for these dim, distant objects outside our galaxy.
All these stars appear to rise in the east and set in the west, as does our star, the sun, because the Earth rotates on its axis from west to east. This makes the Big Dipper asterism a circumpolar constellation, that is, it never sets, just rotates about Polaris, the North Star.
Plan to bring the family to the Brownsville Linear Park Lunada the night of May 20 to meet the South Texas Astronomical Society folks who always have something especially fun for kids to do involving space missions or astronomy events. The Lunada is a great way to meet area folks and meander around enjoying what the market offers and just enjoy a South Texas starry night.
Whew! That’s enough for today-until next week, KLU, and do let the stars get in your eyes!
