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May
At the beginning of the month the sun continues its journey through the constellation of Aries, until the 14th at 05h00, when it crosses the border into Taurus.
In the northern parts of the UK, twilight begins to persist all night, and there are no truly dark nights from now until the end of July. From now on, look out for noctilucent clouds, which are thought to be produced as a result of meteors passing through the upper atmosphere. These thin high clouds of ice crystals still catch the light of the sun, which even at midnight is not far below the northern horizon. Their appearance is as silvery blue veils low in the northern sky, and may be seen an hour before and after midnight.
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The Moon
The moon is at perigee, the point of nearest approach to earth, in the early morning of the 6th, and apogee, the furthest distance away from the earth as it can be, takes place at lunchtime on the 20th.
There are two First Quarter moons in May. The first is on May 1st in the early evening in the constellation of Cancer, to the SE of the Beehive cluster M44. The second is on May 31st just before 03h30 in the faint constellation of Sextans the sextant. Full Moon is on the 9th just after 0400hrs in Libra, 6 south of Zubenelgenubi. Last Quarter moon is just before 07h30 on the 17th in NE Capricornus. New Moon is just after noon on the 24th, the moon passing 4 north of the sun in Taurus.
For the first two days, and again during the last week of the month, earthshine may be seen in the night hemisphere of the crescent moon, when twilight fades sufficiently for this phenomenon to be seen.
Planets
Mercury may be glimpsed as an evening object during the first ten days of the month. It lies very near the Pleiades and appears as a bright 'star' just to the left of them, 8 above the NW horizon at around 20h30 on the 3rd. After this it moves in towards the sun to inferior conjunction on the 18th.
Throughout May, Venus is a brilliant morning 'star', Phosphorus as it was known by the ancients. At the beginning of the month it rises 1 hour before the sun, and 1 hours at the end. Look for it low in the eastern sky as twilight is brightening at around 03h. The waning crescent moon comes into conjunction with Venus on the 21st, when they produce a pleasing spectacle about 10 above the eastern horizon with Venus near its greatest brightness some 5 below the moon's centre. Venus still exhibits a crescent phase through a small telescope, although it is now decreasing in size.
Mars begins the month by rising an hour before the sun but by 1 hours on the 31st. At long last the planet becomes visible as a morning object, albeit low in the eastern sky and in twilight. Throughout the month, Venus will hep you locate Mars as the two are about 6 apart with Mars to the left of Venus and a tad lower in the sky. The moon also passes by Mars on the 22nd, so that at 03h30 you will see the thin crescent moon 14 to the left of Venus with Mars just below the mid-point of the line that connects them. All three objects are just less that 10 above the eastern horizon. Mars is becoming brighter and is currently as bright as Pollux, the brightest star in Gemini.
At the start of May, Jupiter rises 2 hours before the sun, but by over 3 hours at the end and so becomes readily visible in the early morning sky, rising at around 01h30 mid-month. It is travelling eastwards through eastern Capricornus towards the boundary with Aquarius. It shines like a steady beacon low in the SE sky and the Galilean satellites are easily visible through binoculars or a small telescope as bright star-like points on either side of the planet's equator, which bulges out making the disc appear slightly elliptical. The last quarter moon is in conjunction with Jupiter on the 17th when just before the start of civil twilight the half moon lies just less than 2 above the planet. An interesting opportunity to see Jupiter in close proximity to Neptune occurs during the morning of the 28th, when at 02h the two planets are separated by less than a moon width (0.3 ), Neptune appears as a faint bluish 'star' directly above Jupiter, but as it is below naked eye visibility, a telescope is required to see the outermost planet ( Pluto having been demoted to its own category of Plutoid.
Saturn is still a bright evening star but as May progresses it sets earlier during the hours of the morning so that by the 31st, it disappears from the sky at around 01h. The rings are as 'wide' as they can be this year. Take a last look at the southern surface of the rings because from now on the rings get narrower until the earth passes through the plane of the rings in August, and it will be 14 years before the southern surface comes into view again. To observe Saturn, look towards the constellation of Leo in the western sky during late evening. It remains slightly brighter than Regulus, the constellation's chief star. During the evening of the 4th and again on the 31st, the moon is in the same part of the sky as Saturn.
Both Uranus and Neptune are theoretically morning stars, but are both difficult to see due to the bright twilight, except as mentioned above where Jupiter helps with Neptune's identification.
If you look at the sky before dawn on the 4th you may see an increase in the number of shooting stars visible. Earth is crossing the path of Halley's comet, and tiny particles, debris from this famous 'dirty snowball', hit the upper atmosphere as the Eta-Aquarid meteors. The gibbous waning moon will have
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Weather for Scarborough
Saturday 26 May 2012
Today
Sunny
Temperature: 10 C to 18 C
Wind Speed: 16 mph
Wind direction: North east
Tomorrow
Sunny
Temperature: 9 C to 16 C
Wind Speed: 15 mph
Wind direction: North east
