What’s Up Above? May Stargazing

Can you hear the birds? They’re there.  A song, a chirp, a whistle.  Squirrels squirrelly chasing across branches and limbs.  Can you hear a buzz outside?  Green is in the air, and growth greets each new day.  Why would this not be the same for the night sky? Why would the cosmos be any different?  It’s not.

(But before turning the page to another celestial season, we must first bid a fond farewell to those special seven sisters. That wispy Pleiades {Messier 45} open star cluster dominated by seven blue sibling stars danced and twirled for us all winter long. Alas, those sisters are sure something special. I will miss them.)

Courtesy Astro Mark, LLc

May heralds a new stargazing season. The beginning of a period called “galaxy season.”  A season when the greatest number of galaxies are visible in the night sky; more so than any other time of the year.  A season when we gaze at these distant islands and take pause, and wonder. A season of perspective, a chance to calibrate, a time to renew.

Galaxy season is made possible by the Earth’s tilt and orbit around the Sun.  In May, our view of the universe is different. Now, a new perspective. This is because the Milky Way rides the western horizon low and tight.  Consequently, when we look up it’s through less comic dust, gas and “fewer” stars.  Galaxies, nebulas, and star clusters in deep space and usually obscured, are now visible. 

While its galaxy season, much is afoot this month in our own solar system. Be alert though, the top celestial events in May highlighted herein all occur before May 12th. What’s happening? Two meteor showers, a farewell to Jupiter, a hello to Arcturus, and a Flower Full Moon.  This means you gotta start stargazing now. It’s May. Don’t wait, get out, and experience a fabulous night or morning sky. Do look up!  

Ciao to Arcturus: May 1th 

Courtesy In-The-Sky

Look to the northeast-east after sunset. There, rising above the horizon and making a statement, is the immediately noticeable star, Arcturus. You’re seeing a super massive orange-red supergiant star. And it’s big. Its estimated diameter is around 20 million miles while the Sun is 865,000 miles in diameter. Arcturus sits about 37 light-years away from Earth. That means it is estimated that the light we see today, when we look at Arcturus, left the star 40 years ago. Similar in mass to the Earth, Arcturus has swelled 25 times its size, making it approximately 170 times brighter. It’s one reason why Arcturus is the 3rd brightest star in the night sky, and the brightest star in the northern hemisphere.

Polynesian navigators in prehistoric times knew of the importance of Arcturus as a guide star. In double-hulled canoes from Tahiti these intrepid sailors traveled east and north over the expansive endless ocean. They knew they crossed the equator when the star Arcturus was directly overhead during the night time during the summer months. Their position under Arcturus was at the same latitude as the consistent and prevalent western trade winds. It was these winds that pushed travelers west towards island chains and land. 

The rising and setting of Arcturus for the Koori people was life sustaining. They knew that Arcturus' appearance in the north signified the arrival of the wood ant larvae, a tremendous food source for the village. They knew summer arrived when Arcturus set over the horizon which coincided with the disappearance of the larvae. 

Eta Aquarids Meteor Shower: Peak Showers May 5th        

Courtesy In-The-Sky

Here’s another celestial event designed for all you early risers.  A meteor shower tailor made for you. This meteor shower is debris from Halley’s Comet, which separated from the comet hundreds of years ago. The current journey of Halley’s Comet doesn’t come close enough to Earth to create a shower. And there’s a bonus for you to get up and experience the Eta Aquarids meteor shower. The rate of meteors increases as the radiant point of the shower climbs in the sky as daybreak approaches.  Meteors at sunrise.     

From your location look to the southeastern horizon.  Shortly after 2:30am local time the showers’ radiant point rises above the horizon. While the radiant point is the general area where most of the meteors will appear; remember that comets can and will originate from all points, going in all directions.  Stay on your toes. You’ll have about three hours before sunrise and obscuring the show which begins at 5:30am. You can anticipate seeing ~40 meteors an hour.  Oh, and because you rose so early to see this show, when you look for the Eta Aquarids meteor shower, you might also see Eta’s meteor siblings like the Northern Iota Aquarids; and the Northern Delta Aquarids; and the Southern Iota Aquarids; or the Southern Delta Aquarids since they are generally all radiating from the same region of the sky. Whew! My hunch is if you get up early and take a peek southeast, you’re gonna see some meteors.

n-Lyrid Meteor Shower: Peak Showers May 8th  

Courtesy In-The-Sky

The n-Lyrid meteor shower is active for a relatively short period of time from May 3rd through May 14th. During that period meteors should be visible from sunset till sunrise. The image above shows the shower’s radiant point at 8:30pm local time in the constellation Lyra and easy to find since that point rises in the northeast just west of its extra bright alpha star, Vega.  As the evening changes to night, the shower will rotate up and around the Celestial North Pole, eventually being overpowered by the light of a new day. When this happens the radiant point is directly overhead. At 5am on May 9th, the Earth’s rotation then points us in the optimal position towards the incoming meteors.  By then the shower reaches its maximum potential of 3 meteors per hour. Yet, rather than looking for meteors streaking across the sky, they will more often fall downward towards you. Unfortunately, the anticipated rate of meteors per hour this year n-Lyrid Meteor shower is below average.

Arrivederci to Jupiter: May 10th 

The King of the Sky has watched over us for a few seasons. Truly, for the last nine months that bluish white dot of a spotlight in the night arced high across the eastern, southern, and western skies is our friend, Jupiter. The Greek god of the sky, and the king of the gods in ancient Roman mythologies.  More so, the deity Jupiter is the king of the gods for the Romans, and equivalent to Zeus, the head of the gods in Greek mythology. Jupiter, also referred to as Jove, or by any other name, is found in many cultural mythologies throughout history and civilizations. With all that said, it is sad to say the time has arrived for Jupiter to bid us a fond farewell. Ye weary stargazers take heart, the god of sky returns later this year. So before we lose sight of our guardian, look west, and give thanks for Jupiter’s reflected guiding light and steadfast presence.      

Another Micromoon? The Full Flower Moon: May 12th  

On the night of 12 May, the full Flower Moon will rise over the eastern horizon not as a bold super showstopper, but as a far more subtle, distant version of itself. The term Flower Moon is deeply rooted in many indigenous peoples’ cultures found across North America. Think back to a world before clocks. Time, or passage of it, was measured by the passage of moons and thus, the seasons. The purpose of these names for the Moons was to provide a calendar for members of the group, tribe, or nation to guide them in the planting of crops, hunting at its abundance, and when to harvest and gather resources. Accordingly, the Flower Moon is the peak of spring in bloom indicating the arrival of the planting season. 

The May Full Moon is the second Micromoon of the year. A Micromoon, or Minimoon, or Apogee Moon happens when the Moon is near or at the point of apogee in its elliptical orbit around the Earth. This moment is when the Moon is farthest away from the Earth. Remember the Moon’s orbit around the Earth is not a round circle; rather it is an ellipse, a bit of a somewhat flattened circle. Conversely, the moment when the Moon is closest to the Earth in its orbit is called perigee, and Full Moons as that moment can sometimes be Supermoons. For you and me, the difference we see viewing this month’s Micromoon is subtle compared to a Supermoon; albeit measurable. The Moon will be 14% smaller in perceived size and about 30% dimmer when compared to a Supermoon.

And now for something completely different…. Do Look Up! May 8th – 11th  

Courtesy the Smithsonian Magazine

There was a period between the 1960s through the 1970s when there was a “space race” between the Soviet Union (Russia) and the United States for reasons of defense, exploration, and global status.

The Soviet Union in March of 1972 launched two probes intended to land on the planet Venus. The first, Venera 8 landed on Venus and operated for just shy of an hour before the planet’s intense heat disabled it. The second probe Cosmos 482, launched four days after Venera 8 launching did not achieve escape velocity. While most of the probe broke up and burned up, this May, some 53 years later, the biggest piece of it is about to return home. This is because 482’s landing vehicle was built to withstand the stressors of entering the dense Venus atmosphere. It’s possible it can survive reentry (which is described as “an unusual uncontrolled reentry”) through the Earth’s atmosphere. Sad to say, where it will land if it survives is unknown. Specifically, it could land inside the latitude range of 52 degrees north, all the way to 52 degrees south; roughly the distance from Great Britain to New Zealand. That’s comforting. My advice to you is put on a pith helmet and keep one eye trained on the sky.  

The month of May shows us that we stand firmly in a new season.  A season of growth, renewal, and new beginnings. It is happening all around.  We can look deep into the cosmos, and when we do, be inspired, and refreshed.  Ready to begin. But what if you don’t have a telescope? Not to worry; celestial splendor awaits morning and night in May. Get up and out to look for meteor showers, stars arriving and planets departing.

In that spirit, if you own a telescope, get it out and go galaxy hunting. If you don’t own one, prod your friend who has one to get it out and take you galaxy hunting. When you look at these galaxies with your own eyes, you’re not going to see a Hubble telescope-like image.  What you will see are thin, diffused, wisps, smudges, blobs, and when you look directly at them, they are often dull.

Then you blink your eyes. There in a flash you glimpse the delicate details of a wispy distant island world, a galaxy off in the universe.  It’s a bit overwhelming. It may take your breath away. You may feel energized.  You may feel renewed. Do you think this is what all that May buzzing, chirping, and squirreling-around is all about?  Oh, and remember to wave fare ye well to those free-spirit swinging, joyful and swaying seven sisters, the daughters of Atlas and Pleione. My guess is Atlas shrugs and shakes his head sometimes with their antics. 

Clear skies to you!