Photo of the Week. Faint rays announce the coming
Sun.
Astronomy news for the week starting Friday, May 13, 2011.
We start, as always, with our
Moon, which this week dominates the sky as it goes through the
bright late stages of its waxing gibbous
phase until it passes full Moon on
the morning of Tuesday, May 17, about the time of Moonset in North
America, allowing you to see the
Moon setting about the time the Sun
comes up. It then spends the remainder of our week in the waning gibbous, rising progressively
later past sundown. The Moon passes south of Saturn during daylight on Saturday the
14th, and will be seen to the southwest of the planet the night of
Friday the 13th, then to the southeast of it the following night,
Saturn, the Moon, and the star Spica making a neat trio. On the
morning of Saturday the 15th, the Moon passes perigee, when it
will be abut five percent closer to us than its average distance of
384,000 kilometers (239,000 miles).
The morning sky draws the week's attention, even though the tight
pack of four planets will be difficult to see and admire, requiring
good timing in dawn's light (about halfway to sunrise), a flat
eastern horizon, and binoculars. We begin the week with rising Jupiter just up and
to the right of Venus and
Mercury down and to the right of the brightest planet. Mars will then be rather
well down and to the left of the trio. As the week progresses,
Jupiter pulls away to the west, while Mars comes up to meet with
Venus and Mercury (Mars still to the left), the red planet finally
coming into conjunction with Mercury (two degrees to the south of
Mars) on Thursday the 19th. (Venus's turn comes next week.) By
that time, Jupiter will have moved well up and to the right of the
new-formed triangle.
Saturn, on the other side of the sky and not a part of the family
gathering, crosses the meridian to the
south around 10 PM Daylight Time just as evening twilight comes to
an end, the planet then setting as morning twilight
commences.
Follow the curve of the Big
Dipper's handle to bright Arcturus. To the northeast lies
the lovely curve of stars that makes Corona Borealis, the Northern Crown (which will be
fairly well hidden by Moonlight until after full phase). About 20
degrees due east of the star you may spot the X-shaped head of Serpens, the Serpent, which wraps
its body around Ophiuchus, the
Serpent Bearer, who holds forth north of Scorpius.
