Tonight's Sky — Highlights of the May sky.
may
constellations
| SOUTHEAST | 9:00 PM |
Looking toward the southeast, we’ve turned away from the cloudy center of our Milky Way galaxy. Thus we see farther into the universe. The large constellation Virgo fills the southeastern sky.
One of the ancient Zodiacal constellations, Virgo honors the life-giving virtues of women. Shafts of wheat in her hands represent fertility.
Corvus is a small, easy-to-identify constellation, just below Virgo.
To the ancient Greeks, Corvus, the crow, was a spy for Apollo. He was banished far away, into the night, for the unhappy news he brought. Arab stargazers were more practical — they saw the square of stars as a tent.
may
deep sky objects
| SOUTH | 11:00 PM |
Using a pair of binoculars, visit the Virgo Cluster of galaxies. These tiny smudges of light are galaxies, far away from our own Milky Way, each aglow with billions of stars.
A wonderful deep-sky object, visible to the naked eye, makes its annual spring appearance in the very low southern sky just above the horizon. In the late evening look for the Omega Centauri globular cluster of stars. A globular cluster is a group of hundreds of thousands of old stars, held together by gravity. Omega Centauri is the largest globular cluster in the night sky, about the same apparent size as the full Moon.
may
planets
| SOUTH | 8:00 PM |
Saturn is already high in the southern sky at sunset and dominates the night sky.
Saturn wobbles on its axis, like Earth, causing its rings to appear tilted. During May, the rings will appear to reach maximum tilt on May 13th.
Over the next month, the gap between the rings will appear to close as the planet slowly tilts in the other direction.
| SOUTHEAST | 4:00 AM |
Before sunrise, look for Jupiter shining brightly in the southeastern sky.
| EAST | 5:00 AM |
Low on the eastern horizon, watch ruddy Mars and bright Venus greet the dawn.
may
events
In the early morning hours of May 4th to 7th, look for swift meteors with persistent trains from the Eta Aquarid meteor shower.
The shower could be dramatic this year, with many meteors visible.
2009 is the International Year of Astronomy.
Celebrate by exploring the night sky from your own backyard.
credits
Starfield images created with SkyChart III software by Southern Star System
Mythological constellation forms from the Uranographicarum by Johannis Hevelii, courtesy
United States Naval Observatory
Virgo Cluster of Galaxies and Omega Centauri images courtesy of Bill Patterson
Venus image courtesy of Michael Meyers
Narration: Narration: Nancy Calo
Music: Jonn Serrie
This show was created by the team at HubbleSite.org