May 2004

• Planetary Update
  
  
• The Moon
  
  
• Website of the Month
  

As spring leads us into warmer weather, it's certainly a lot more comfortable to go out and view the skies. As we head into nice temperatures, there are some drawbacks, however:

• The sun sets later -- you get less viewing time.
• The trees get leaves! During the winter, you can often point your telescopes lower and see through the bare branches.
• Humidity and heat in the atmosphere can make the sky look wavery.

Another surprise... there are 2 COMETS in the sky this month! More about that below in the Website of the Month section...

Planetary Update

Mercury might be visible in the wee hours of the morning. It will likely be lost in the sun's rising glow, but during the last hour of darkness, low in the Eastern part of the sky, you might see a fine point of light. This is Mercury. It is in a very thin crescent phase, so it won't be very bright.
CURRENT DISTANCE FROM EARTH: Just over 62 million miles.

Venus is the dominator of the skies right now! You can't miss it. I'm not kidding -- it's about 5 times brighter than anything else up there (besides the moon, of course). You can see it about 25 minutes before darkness falls -- it's high in the southwest sky. Once it does get dark, it appears as a teeny little SPOTLIGHT up there. Through a GOOD pair of binoculars, or a telescope, you can see the crescent shape of Venus. Through a telescope, Venus looks like a bright smile.
CURRENT DISTANCE FROM EARTH: Almost 41 million miles.

Mars is tricky to find by itself, but luckily you have a great reference point. Not far away, is VENUS! So, look for Venus (you can't miss it, see above), and look to the left and up slightly (think: about a 10 o'clock angle), and the next thing you will notice is a dim orange-brown spot. You've found Mars!
CURRENT DISTANCE FROM EARTH: 203 million miles.

Jupiter is second only to Venus and is a super-powered spot in the night sky. It jumps out during twilight, and dominates the night sky through midnight. Right after the sun goes down, HIGH in the middle of the sky, right near the base of the constellation Leo, you will see Jupiter. Jupiter is always great through a telescope -- the equatorial belts are orage and yellow stripes, and usually four moons are easily visible.
CURRENT DISTANCE FROM EARTH: Over 457 million miles.

Saturn lies near Venus and Mars. Start by finding Venus, then move to the left and up slightly to find the dim burnt-orange Mars, THEN, look at about an 11:00 angle from Mars -- a distance a little greater than that between Venus and Mars -- you'll find Saturn. Saturn is THIRD brightest, behind the unmistakeable Venus, and the powerful jupiter. This summer, Saturn will be the focus of study as the Cassini spacecraft falls into Saturn's orbit.
CURRENT DISTANCE FROM EARTH: Almost 890 million miles.

The Moon

The phases for this month:

Website of the Month

This month, I would like to introduce you to a wonderful night-sky viewing resource. It is called Heavens-Above, and is loaded with great features!

Heavens-Above is for people who want to see and know about "stuff" in the night sky. You tell it where you live (it will remember this info from session to session with a username and password), and you can easily get a Full-Sky chart showing the positions of constellations and planets for any date and time you wish. (If you've been to the planetarium, the sky charts I produce are made from Heavens-Above!)

But that is just the tip of the celestial iceberg. If you are interested in machines we've sent to space, Heavens-Above keeps track of hundreds of satellites. For example: Curious to see the International Space Station drift through the sky? Heavens-Above will tell you exactly when and where to look.

Even spacecraft that are zipping towards the edge of the Solar System, like Pioneer and Voyager, are tracked on Heavens-Above. A couple quick clicks will tell you that Voyager 1 is currently (as of me writing this publication) 8,535,388,152 miles from Earth. Yes, that is OVER 8 BILLION MILES!

Heavens-Above will help you locate some minor planets (asteroids!) as well. Most asteroids are notoriously difficult to spot with a backyard telescope -- Heavens-Above will give you a fighting chance.

There is a huge section of links to other sites, as well.

AND, as exciting events occur in the night sky, Heavens-Above is a great place to get a heads up. They are currently featuring information on how to view TWO comets in the night sky THIS MONTH.

The first is Comet LINEAR, and it's currently hanging below the bright square of the constellation Pegasus (the comet is actually in Pisces, but that is a rather difficult constellation to spot). Pegasus rises at about 4:30 AM. So to see LINEAR, you'll have to get up in the early morning hours.

The other is Comet NEAT. NEAT is floating over Canis Major, the big dog trailing behind Orion, so it is visible in the evening sky, for just an hour or two after the sun sets. Heavens-Above includes wide-view, and close-up star charts to help you locate the comets.

Comet LINEAR and Comet NEAT appear to be in hyperbolic orbits. This means that this is your only chance to see them. They pass by the Sun, and gather enough speed and energy that they will be whipped out of the Solar System forever!

Both comets should be getting slightly brighter, being brightest near the middle of the month. The brightness of a comet is due to the sun refleting off its body and tail. The tail is material blown off the body of the comet by the Sun's energy. Comets can have times where less stuff falls off -- they sort of have "moods" that are hard to predict. Sometimes they can be brighter than we expect, but, if the comet doesn't feel like shedding shiny material, it can be dimmer. It's hard for me to tell you how bright they will be -- only time will tell. I'm sure many news outlets will be mentioning these comets as they get brighter... keep your ears open.

I recommend www.heavens-above.com as a great resource for keeping track of these comets and uncountable other objects and events in the night sky!

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