Image Credit: Unsplash.com
So here we are, closer to the middle of the year than the beginning and we are barrelling fast towards the summer! Exciting news for those lucky enough to get the summer off – not so exciting for those who have exams first.
In the spring night sky we have a number of constellations that will be familiar to you; both as they are large, well-known zodiac constellations and because we talked about them last month! Luckily, what you can see in the April sky constellations-wise, changes only a little through May, and last month’s advice still stands. Today I’m going to focus instead on some objects that are either a bit less well-known, or are specific to May.
We’ll start with the planets you can see in the night sky this month. Because the planets have their own motion through space, independent of any other planet, compounded by Earth’s own motion (which is the only reason the stars move) they move around more than the stars. However the motion is still predictable (it just involves a bit more maths to predict). Due to this more complex relative motion, the planets are far less repetitive in their patterns than the stars and give us a bit more variety through the year.
This month specifically we have a great view of four of the planets, and though you’ll have to be late to bed and early to rise to see all of them, they provide a great start and end to the night. Jupiter trails after the sun, visible near the horizon in the west just after the sun sets, and itself sets a short while later. Mars is visible nice and high in the south-south-western sky in the early hours of the evening. At the other side of a short night’s rest, we have Venus and Saturn giving us a duet in the morning, low to the horizon just before the sun rises. They trail across the southern sky, ending the morning as the sun follows them over the horizon. Venus is often known as the morning star when it is visible in the morning, and might be easier to see than Saturn, being brighter in the sky.
Note: Neptune is only visible with a telescope. Image Credit: Pete Lawrence, skyatnightmagazine.com
Constellations visible this month (I’ve given you a variety, at different times of night for your choice of views) can be seen with just the naked eye, just remember: the best view will always be in a dark area away from city lights, after you have given your eyes roughly 20 minutes to adjust (if you must use light during the adjustment period, red light is best, as it preserves your night vision a bit better).
Corvus is a small constellation visible in the southern sky after sunset, only a little above the horizon, throughout May. Its name means crow or raven in Latin (if you like birdwatching this may be familiar to you) and the constellation shows, not surprisingly, a raven, which were Apollo’s sacred messengers in myth.
Apollo with one of his crows, as depicted on a cup. Image Credit: meisterdrucke.ie
The constellation contains the famous Antennae Galaxies which are ‘interacting’ with each other: at some point they are expected to collide with each other, giving us a preview of what it might be like to view the collision of our own galaxy with the neighbouring Andromeda from an outside perspective. Might take a few hundred thousand years though, so we’ll have to be extra patient.
We have another ‘c’ constellation, right beside Corvus, which is also linked to Apollo – this one is called Crater, meaning ‘Cup’. This one represents Apollo’s sacred cup; brought to him full of water, and occupied by a water snake, by one of his own crows. Apollo cast all three (crow, cup and snake) into the night sky, and they now form the constellations Corvus, Crater and Hydra (which lies directly under Crater – it is harder to view this one from this latitude).
If you see yourself staying up a little later in the night, though, there are a couple of constellations to look out for particularly for the night owls among us.
Ophiuchus and Serpens. Image Credit: underthenightsky.com
Ophiuchus and Serpens are two constellations that lie roughly on the ecliptic (the imaginary line that marks the plane of our solar system) – making Ophiuchus a token 13th member (according to some) of the zodiac group of constellations. Officially though, it is not a zodiac constellation; both Ophiuchus and Serpens are part of the Hercules group of constellations. In most portrayals of these constellations, Ophiuchus (thought to be depicting the healer Asclepius) is actually holding the snake that makes up Serpens – splitting the latter constellation into two parts: Serpens Caput (head end) and Cauda (tail end). The two together form a very large pattern in the sky if you’re willing to stay up until after midnight to see them this month!
Image Credit: stellar-journeys.org
Serpens also contains one of the most famous objects in the night sky – the Pillars of Creation, first imaged by the Hubble and recently again, in spectacular fashion, by the James Webb Space Telescope. The object you would be looking for with the average (home) telescope would be the Eagle Nebula though – the Pillars themselves require exceptional viewing conditions (and more likely a larger telescope). The JWST image is a fabulous second option though!
Another, even lesser-known constellation rising in the May sky after midnight is Scutum – it depicts the shield of a 17th century Polish King who triumphed in the Battle of Vienna in 1683 and is named “the shield” in Latin. A slightly more modern constellation than we might be used to, and a smaller one as well. Scutum is the 5th smallest constellation by area.
The Eta Aquarids is a nice meteor shower to view in the first week of May and is caused by Halley’s comet, despite the comet itself being very far away from earth right now. We are hindered slightly in our potential for viewing the meteors for two reasons. The moon, while not completely full, is gibbous (a three-quarter moon essentially) leaving some of the fainter meteors invisible; unfortunately we also live on the wrong half of the world to see the shower at its best (unless you are in, or on the way to, the Southern Hemisphere). However, we will still see a fair number of meteors if we’re patient (and away from light pollution etc – all the usual practices for stargazing), even if there are fewer of them at the peak than elsewhere, and if we only see the brightest of the bunch.
Of course, we also have the full flower moon on the 12th of the month and its opposing counterpart, the new moon, on the 27th – this time of the month is always the best time to view fainter stars or deep sky objects, unimpeded by the glow of the brightest object in the night sky.
Image Credit: skyatnightmagazine.com
So, have fun out there, frolicking in the warmer weather and longer days, appreciating the night sky even more as we see it less. Or, if you’re like me and could not be less of a morning person, just go a bit nocturnal! That never causes any problems whatsoever.
Enjoy!
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