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Constellations, deep-sky objects, planets and events, Tonight’s Sky, Highlights of the May Sky

Evening Planets

Venus makes its descent into the western horizon soon after sunset. Act quickly to catch a glimpse of it with a telescope.
Saturn and Mars grace the southern sky in the evening. Watch them move into the west as the night progresses.

Constellations and Deep-Sky Objects

Looking toward the south, we’ve turned away from the crowded center of our Milky Way Galaxy. Thus we see farther into the universe.
The large constellation Virgo fills the southern sky in the late evening. One of the zodiacal constellations of ancient times, Virgo honors the life-giving virtues of women.
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 the light of billions of stars.
The Sombrero Galaxy, M104, lies in the southern part of Virgo. Its dark dust lane makes it look like a large hat, hence its name.
Two smaller constellations lie above Virgo.
Coma Berenices honors a queen who gave her long hair to the gods to ensure her husband’s safe return from war. M64, a spiral galaxy, can be found tangled in Berenice’s Hair.
Canes Venatici represents the hunting dogs of the gods. The brightest star in Canes Venatici is Cor Caroli, the Heart of Charles, named for Charles 1 of England.
M51, in Canes Venatici, is known as the Whirlpool Galaxy. It is one of the most beautiful face-on spirals in the sky.

Events

The Eta Aquarid meteor shower peaks on the morning of May 6th. Look toward the eastern sky after midnight to see up to 10 meteors per hour. The full Moon may wash out all but the brightest meteors.
On May 20th, sky watchers in southern China, Japan, and the western United States will be treated to an annular solar eclipse. Observers in other parts of eastern Asia and most of North America will see this event as a partial eclipse.

The night sky is always a celestial showcase. Explore its wonders from your own backyard.

Credits

Produced by the Space Telescope Science Institute, Office of Public Outreach
Starfield images created with Stellarium
Mythological constellation forms from Firmamentum Sobiescianum sive
Uranographia by Johannes Hevelius, courtesy of the United States Naval Observatory
Venus image courtesy of Mario Weigand
Saturn image courtesy of John Endreson
Mars image courtesy of Matt Wedel
Virgo Cluster image based on image courtesy of NOAO/AURA/NSF
M104, M64, and M51 images courtesy of the MicroObservatory Robotic Telescope Network
Annular solar eclipse images courtesy of Larry Hubble and Leo Heppner
Partial solar eclipse image courtesy of Franklin A. Holub
Narrated by Nancy Calo
Music written by Jonn Serrie
Production: Lucy Albert, Greg Bacon, John Bintz, John Godfrey, and Vanessa Thomas

Celestial Lights from Ole C. Salomonsen on Vimeo.

Lyrids Radiant Credit: Adrian West

April showers? Yes! The 16th to the 26th this month brings us the April Lyrid Meteor Shower, with the peak occurring on April 22nd.

The meteors in this shower tend to be bright and leave persistent trains as they enter the Earth’s atmosphere. In recent years the shower has averaged 10 to 20 meteors per hour.

You may think that this sounds like a fairly mediocre shower and not worth bothering with, but it has been known for the Lyrids to surge and rates rise rapidly to over 100 per hour! This is what makes this shower so interesting and difficult to predict. Will it be a biggy this year or not?
Read the rest of this entry »

Long Exposure Photograph of the ISS Credit: Mark Humpage

If you have seen the International Space Station (ISS) pass over a few times with your own eyes, (here’s a guide to seeing it) you may want to have a go at photographing it.

Photographing the ISS is very worthwhile and gratifying. There are two basic methods; one being easy and the other being a little more difficult. Both methods are incredibly rewarding and good results can be obtained fairly quickly, once you have mastered the basics. Read the rest of this entry »

The International Space Station Credit: @VirtualAstro

The ISS is a huge space station orbiting Earth that serves as an orbital laboratory, factory, testing ground and home; crew members conduct experiments from biology to astronomy, including experiments for prolonged exposure to life in space for future missions to the Moon and beyond.

The ISS is major accomplishment for NASA (US), ESA (Europe), JAXA (Japan) CSA (Canada) and all the countries involved (16 in all). The space station is just over 72 m long by 108 m wide and 20 m high; it is maintained at an orbital altitude of between 330 km (205 mi) and 410 km (255 mi) and travels at an average speed of 27,724 kilometres (17,227 mi) per hour, completing 15.7 orbits per day.

One of the best things about the ISS is that you can see it with your own eyes from Earth! It’s very easy to watch the International Space Station pass over your own backyard! Read the rest of this entry »

Hubble Ultra-Deep Field (Credit NASA) Click for a zoomable image

We live on a planet which orbits a star, and along with a hundred billion other stars, our Sun orbits the centre of our Milky Way galaxy. It doesn’t just stop there; our galaxy is one of hundreds of billions of galaxies in our Universe that gravitationally clump together in groups or clusters.

Throughout Spring in the northern hemisphere, astronomers and people interested in the night sky are going to be in for a galactic treat, as this is the time of year we can see the Coma/Virgo Super cluster or “Realm of Galaxies”.

Read the rest of this entry »

Constellations, deep-sky objects, planets and events, Tonight’s Sky

Highlights of the April Sky Transcript:

Evening Planets

In early April, four planets grace the sky at nightfall.

In the west, Jupiter hangs low on the horizon. Around mid-month, the planet disappears into the sunset.

Venus blazes just above Jupiter in the west. Use a telescope to see its crescent phase.

In the south, Mars is already climbing high. It will remain visible into the early morning.

Saturn will shine low in the east in the evening but climb higher during the night. On April 15th, Saturn reaches opposition, meaning it is opposite the Sun in Earth’s sky. It is also closer to Earth than it’ll be the rest of the year, making it
appear slightly bigger and brighter.

Constellations and Deep-Sky Objects

Late in the evening, high in the northern sky lies the Great Bear, Ursa Major.
The constellation of Ursa Major contains the well-known star pattern, the Big Dipper. It resembles a large drinking cup with a handle.

The two stars that make up the front side of the cup are called “pointer stars” because they point toward the star Polaris, also known as the North Star. The Big Dipper overflows with interesting stars and deep-sky objects.

The stars Mizar and Alcor make up a double-star system that can be seenwithout a telescope. In ancient times, when Mizar and Alcor were even closer together, they were used as a test of keen eyesight.

M81 and M82 are a magnificent pair of galaxies, showpieces of the northern night sky. M82 has an irregular shape, bestowed by a collision with its larger neighbor, M81.

Turning to the south, we see Leo, the Lion, heralding the coming of spring. In Greek mythology, Leo is the great beast slain by Hercules.

The star Denebola, which in Arabic means “tail,” represents exactly that. The bright star Regulus is the heart of the Lion.

Leo has several galaxies in his belly. M65, M66, and NGC 3628 make up the “Leo Triplet,” a lovely grouping of galaxies easily seen with a telescope. Close by is another group. M95 and M96 are large spiral galaxies.

Between the Big Dipper and the head of Leo are three pairs of bright stars known to ancient Arab astronomers as “The Three Leaps of the Gazelle.”

Events

The Lyrid meteor shower will be best seen in the early morning hours of April 22nd. Under a dark sky, you can expect to see up to 20 bright meteors per hour.

The night sky is always a celestial showcase. Explore its wonders from your own backyard.

Credits:

www.hubblesite.org

The night sky for March 2012 Credit: hubblesite.org