Sky this Week

A few of the many objects that may be viewed up in the sky, this week May 4 to May 10, 2008:

International Space Station

Some nice bright passes of the ISS are visible in the early morning before sunrise this week.
On Monday morning May 5, the ISS is visible in southwest at 4:32 am and disappears in the northeast at 4:36 am MDT (magnitude -2.4)
On Tuesday morning May 6, the ISS is visible in the west at 4:53 and disappears in the northeast at 4:58 (magnitude -1.1)
On Wednesday morning May 7 the ISS is visible in the ENE at 3:44 and disappears in the NE at 3:46 (magnitude -1.2)
On Thursday morning May 8 the ISS is visible in the northwest at 4:05 and disappears in the northeast at 4:08 am MDT (magntiude -1.1)

The Sun

No active regions are currently visible on the disk as of today Sunday.
On Sunday morning the sunrose at 4:58 am and sunset at 8:00 pm MDT
On Saturday morning sunrise is at 5:52 am and sunset is 8:06 pm MDT

The Moon

The Moon is new on Monday morning, May 5th at 6:18 am MDT

On Tues May 6 and Wednesday May 7 take a look at the thin crescent moon low in the northwest. It will a beautiful to view as the nightside of the moon will be illuminated by the bright light from earth. This light illuminates the lunar landscape and is then reflected back. This is called “Earthshine”.

Thursday May 8 the moon is at lunation 3.6. Locate the craters Endymion, Clemodes, and Picard in the north. Explore Mare Crisium, “the sea of crisis”. It is about 376 miles wide with a flat floor and wrinkled ridges in the outer boundaries. Toward the southern part of the moon, locate Langrenus, Vendelinus, Petavius, the Petavius wall, and Furnerius.

Friday at May 9 lunation 4.6. Locate Lunar 1 club craters Atlas, Macrobius, Proclus, Palus Somni, Messier and Messier A, and Fabricius.

Saturday May 10 at lunation 5.6 Mitchel, Lacus Mortis, Posidonius, Mare Tranquilitatis, Plinius, Theophilus, Cyrillus, Catharina, Rupes Altai, Mare Nectaris, Fracastorius, and Picollomini

Planets

On Saturday May 10th after sunset, the planet Mercury is visible low in the northwest. It is magnitude +0 in brightness and the disk is 7.3 arc sec across. It will appear in your telescope as a miniture first quarter moon. It is now about 84 million miles from Earth.

Mars moves from constellation Gemini into the constellation Cancer, the crab. On Saturday evening it will be a bit below and to the right of the crescent moon. It is +1.3 magnitude in brightness and 5.5 arc-sec across. It is 160 million miles from Earth.

Saturn is in the constellation Leo. It is +1 magnitude in brightness and 18.3 arc sec across. Saturday evening, its largest moon Titan will be located about 2 arc minutes to the east. Tethys will be very close to the disk to the east. The moons Dione and Rhea are visible about an arc minute to the west. It is about 842 million miles from earth.

Jupiter rises about 12:40 am and is in the constellation Sagittarius. It is 42.3 arc sec across and -2.3 magnitude in brightness. It is 431 million miles from earth. Jupiter’s great red spot crosses the center at the following times during this week:
Mon May 5 at 03:18 am
Wed May 7 at 04:57 am
Thur May 8 at 00:48 am
Fri May 9 at 06:35 am
Sat May 10 at 02:26 am

Meteor Showers

The Eta Aquarid Meteor Shower is active this week but will probably not be very impressive. Look early in the morning around 4 am. The radiant is in Aquarius about 4 degrees below Alpha Aquarii (Sadalmelik). Due to the low radiant only about 2 per hour are expected. You may also see around 4 sporadic meteors per hour. Sporadic meteors are not associated with any particular radiant. The Eta Aquarid are caused when the earth passes through debris left by Halley’s comet.
See http://www.amsmeteors.org/lunsford for more information. Also be sure to checkout the Astroleague Asteroid Observing club at http://www.astroleague.org/al/obsclubs/meteor/metrcl.html

Asteroids

1 Ceres is visible low in the northwest in the constellation Taurus. It is magnitude 8.9 in brightness

7 Iris is in the constellation Virgo and is magnitude 10 in brightness.

41 Daphne is also in the constellation Virgo and is magnitude 9.9 in brightness
Both 7 Iris and 41 Daphne are about 2 astronomical Units or 188 million miles in distance.

Comets

C/2007 W1 Boattini is in constellation Hydra and should be visible in binoculars. It is magnitude 7 in brightness; the coma is 17.9 arc min in diameter.

17P Holmes is in constellation Auriga. It is about magnitude +6.1 in brightness and the coma is about 1 degree diameter. Binoculars or wide field scope and a dark sky location will be needed to see it.

C/2006 Q1 McNaught is in the constellation Hydra and is magnitude +10.7 in brightness; the coma is about 1.9 arc min diameter.

C/2007 B2 Skiff is in the constellation Virgo. It is magnitude +12 in brightness and the coma is 1.6 arc min in diameter.

26P/Grigg-Skjellerup is in the constellation Delphinius and is magnitude +11.2 in brightness.

Dark Sky

By the weekend the Moon interfere’s with our evening dark sky views.