May 2022

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Lunar Eclipse Month!!! Get ready for a May that boasts a wonderful blood moon and an array of morning planets all month long.

         Welcome to Observing With Webb, where a high school astronomy teacher tells you what you’re looking at, why it’s so cool, and what you should check out later this month…at night. 

Naked-eye PLANETS

Sunset – Mercury (first week of May)

• Mercury (WNW) – It sounds like this apparition of Mercury will be the best one of the year. Just get out after sunset, look WNW, and the first point of light you’ll see is Mercury.  BONUS: On the 2nd, Mercury will be right next to the Pleiades, with the Moon. Get out some binoculars or a low-power scope to see both of them in the same view.

Throughout the night – None

Morning – Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn (SE)

Let’s use Venus as our guidepost for the month, as it is the most visible object in the morning sky.

• Venus (E) – Keep an eye out after 4:30am, looking E, for the highlight of the spring and summer mornings this year, Venus. About 15˚ above the horizon and hard to miss, the brightest object in the morning sky will blaze as a “morning star”.
• Jupiter (ESE) ­– Jupiter starts May less than 1˚ away from much brighter Venus, then travels 30˚ rightward to finish the month right next to Mars in the SE
• Mars (ESE) – Mars starts May about 15˚ away from Venus, to the right, and travels away to 30˚ from Venus by the end of the month, with Jupiter joining it.
• Saturn (SE) – Saturn starts cautiously leaving the group of morning planets in May, starting less than 20˚ to the right of Mars, and ending up double that distance away.

EVENTS

Evening Crescents (look West after Sunset)

First Quarter Moon – 8th (Visible until midnight)

Evening Gibbous (Mostly lit, after Sunset)

Full Moon – 17th (Visible all night)

Waning Gibbous (Mostly lit, rises later at night)

Last Quarter Moon – 22nd (Visible from midnight into the morning)

Morning Crescents (look East in the AM)

New Moon – 30th (darkest skies)

1st – CONJUNCTION – Jupiter, Venus – Less than 1˚ apart, Jupiter and Venus rise together this morning.  Get out and look low in the East after 4:30am (when they rise) for the brightest object, Venus, with Jupiter barely up and to the right.

2nd – Close Encounter – Mercury, Pleiades, Moon – Get out just after sunset, with a nice view of the NWN horizon.  The first light in the sky will be Mercury, in its crescent phase, with the Pleiades about 2˚ down and to the right.  Get your binoculars and scopes out!  The Moon can also be your guide, being 4˚ up and to the left of Mercury.

15th – 16th – TOTAL LUNAR ECLIPSE – Sunday night into Monday morning

           Watch the Moon pass through the Earth’s shadow and witness the light from all the sunrises and sunsets on Earth at the same time! No telescope needed for this event! (Though it will certainly make the event even cooler)  Make sure you have a view of the Moon.  For those of us on the east coast, you’ll be looking S