JUPITER IS LOST AS IT MOVES TO THE MORNING….

by William J. Bechaver

This weekend, Jupiter is in the process of passing around the far side of the Sun. On Saturday 18 May, Jupiter will be left behind in its slower orbit, as Earth moves away from it. It will lie directly on the opposite side of its orbit, behind the Sun when viewed from Earth.

In fact, Jupiter will not be seen in a dark sky this weekend. Jupiter sets before the sunset and rises after the sunrise. We can not view Jupiter while it is in conjunction with the Sun, while it is at its most distant position from Earth.

From this point forward, Earth will continue to move closer to Jupiter now, as it will reappear in the morning sky, and we will slowly gain on the distant planet in its slower orbit.

Now, all the visible planets are in the morning sky. Jupiter and Venus, the brightest of the planets viewed from Earth, are both lost to the glare of the Sun.

On the morning of Thursday 23 May, Venus rises only 24 seconds before Jupiter in the morning sky, lost in the glare of the Sun, which rises only seven minutes after the planets. They appear too near the Sun to be viewed during their closest passage.

The following morning, Jupiter will lie above Venus. It will continue its climb higher into the morning sky, as Venus continues to descend each day.

So, while the brightest planets are too low to be viewed, the readily visible planets are higher in the sky during the early morning hours.

Saturn and Mars rise well before sunrise, in a dark sky in the east. This week provides the last opportunity to see Mercury in the morning sky, as it begins its descent toward the Sun. It rises about an hour before the Sun this week, just as the sky is beginning to lighten. 

By next week, it will appear closer to the Sun, and more distant from Earth. This week it is at its greatest separation from the Sun, at nearer Earth. It shines brighter than Saturn and Mars right now. You will only need a clear and low eastern horizon to see it, low before sunrise. A pair of binoculars will come in handy to separate the planet from the bright sky surrounding it. But once you find it, you can’t miss it!

With all the planets appearing in the morning sky, now, we have only the stars and constellations to view in the evenings.

Orion, the most notable of winter constellations, has now moved into the west, and is distinctly visible in the twilight after sunset.

On Thursday 23 May, the Moon will be full, rising in the east just before sunset. Look for the bright star Antares, the brightest star in the constellation Scorpius, just to the upper right of the Moon. It will lie less than a half of one degree from the Moon at its closest, about an hour after the pair rises in the east.

Though the Moon will pass very near Antares, it will not pass in front of the star, except for viewers in the south eastern part of the United States. But for us, here, the pairing on Thursday night will be very close!

So, our planetary views are limited to the dimmer of the planets and only early in the morning hours. For those of us who are night viewers, we must be content with views of the Moon, sometimes pairing with the brightest stars in the sky. 

With the planets rising higher and shining brighter in the morning, if you only look to the sky this week, you are bound to see something amazing!

With our dark skies here, they only need to be clear, so keep your eyes on the skies from sunset to sunrise.

Thanks for the positive feedback about our featured columns, and your continued interest in astronomy. If you have any questions or article requests, contact us at spacescape@rocketmail.com, or follow us on Twitter @ColoSpacEScapE for updates and additional viewing opportunities.

ASTRONOMICAL TIMES AND DISTANCES of naked-eye objects for this weekend.

Sun Set = 8:02 p.m.
6 minutes later than last week
94.042 million miles from Earth
135,486 miles further than last week
2.638 million miles further than its nearest in January

Saturn Rise = 2:43 a.m.
26 minutes earlier than last week
3 hours 3 minutes before the Sun
927.774 million miles from Earth
10,027,937 miles nearer than last week
67.739 million miles nearer than its furthest in February

Moon Set = 3:37 a.m.  
22 minutes later than yesterday
7 hours 35 minutes after the Sun
Waxing Gibbous 81.63% Illuminated
250,837 miles from Earth
556 miles nearer than yesterday
10,925 miles further than last week
Nearest is 221,557 miles
Furthest is 252,665 miles

Mars Rise = 3:45 a.m.
15 minutes earlier than last week
2 hours 1 minute before the Sun
177.256 million miles from Earth
2,460,589 miles nearer than last week
59.727 million miles nearer than its furthest in October

Mercury Rise = 4:47 a.m.
5 minutes earlier than last week
59 minutes before the Sun
91.813 million miles from Earth
10,950,800 miles further than last week
38.231 million miles further than its nearest in April

Venus Rise = 5:36 a.m.
2 minutes earlier than last week
10 minutes before the Sun
160.568 million miles from Earth
731,170 miles further than last week
133.730 million miles further than its nearest in August

Sun Rise = 5:46 a.m.
5 minutes earlier than last week
94.049 million miles from Earth
7,426 miles further than last evening
134,489 miles further than last week
2,645,427 miles further than its nearest in January

Full Moon occurs on Thursday, May 23rd, at 7:53 a.m.

We’ve Gained 11 Minutes Of Daylight since last week, and 57 minutes since last month, and 4 hours 39 minutes since the December Solstice.

Our Nearest Planetary Neighbor currently is Mercury. It is 2.235 million miles nearer than the Sun.

No Planet In The Dark Sky for 6 hours 41 minutes. This is the duration between Sun Set in the evening and Saturn Rise in the early morning. No planets are visible with a naked-eye during this period.

Note: Times are local Mountain Time. Actual “sundown” is about a dozen minutes earlier than calculated “sunset”. Along the front range, differing times vary depending on your distance from the mountains.
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• · William J. Bechaver is the director of SPACE • Spanish Peaks Amateur Cosmos Enthusiasts, the premier Astronomical Society for Southern Colorado and Northern New Mexico.

The planets and their relative positions in the solar system for this weekend. Planet sizes and distances are obviously not to scale.

S·P·A·C·E•Date 16.4807 • 236 •

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NO BRIGHT PLANETS FOR US….

by William J. Bechaver

As we know from experience, Venus and Jupiter are the two brightest planets in the sky.

Venus is the largest near planet to Earth. It is nearly the size of Earth, and covered in a thick layer of reflective clouds. Traditionally, no matter how distant Venus is from us, it is by far the brightest planet in the sky.

Mars is a tiny, rocky world, and even at its closest, it can not compete with the brightness of Venus.

Jupiter is the largest planet it the solar system. So even at its most distant, is easily outshines the nearest planets besides Venus.

But right now, we’re having some difficulty viewing either of the brightest planets in the sky.

Venus is on its way around the far side of the Sun, moving away from Earth in its shorter, more rapid orbit. It has sunk so low in the morning sky, it rises a mere thirteen minutes before the Sun. In the bright dawn sky preceeding sunrise, even brilliant Venus is now lost in the glare.

Jupiter, on the other hand, is falling further behind Earth. We are in a shorter orbit, moving around the Sun far more quickly than distant Jupiter. As it drops into the distance, it is moving ever lower in the evening sky.

Jupiter sets in the west only twenty one minutes after the Sun, and it is getting substantially lower every evening. It is currently lost in the sunset glare as it prepares to pass around the far side of the Sun and into the morning sky.

So, what does that leave us with, with the two brightest planets out of contention for being viewed, at the same time.

We have Saturn rising first in the morning sky. It is huge, but very distant. At nearly twice the distance of Jupiter, it is bright in the morning sky, but nothing compared to Jupiter when viewed from Earth.

Mars rises next, and is only slightly brighter than Saturn. It is much nearer, but being a small and rocky world, it doesn’t reflect nearly as much sunlight as Venus or Jupiter.

So, what we’re left with is tiny Mercury. Mercury is tiny also. The smallest of all, it is only slightly larger than our own Moon. But right now, it shines at almost one complete magnitude brighter than Mars and Saturn.

So, at this unique time for planetary viewing, miniscule Mercury is the brightest planet in the sky!

What’s more, no planets are now visible in the night sky. In fact, we have to wait more than eight hours after sunset before the first planet makes an appearance, with the rise of Saturn in the morning sky.

So, with nary a planet available for observation during the night, let us take this opportunity to find some of the brightest stars, in some of the notable constellations in our night sky.

On Sunday 12 May at sunset, look high in the west for the crescent Moon. Just to the right of the crescent Moon is Pollux, the head of one of the twins of Gemini. Further to the right of the pair is Castor, the head of the other twin. They stand upright, high above the western horizon at sunset. The Moon will traverse westward with the twins, and set just after midnight, early Monday morning.

On Wednesday 15 May, go out anytime after sunset and find the Quarter Moon high in the southern sky. To the lower right of the Moon, you’ll find the bright star Regulus, the brightest start in the forepaw of the zodiacal constellation Leo, the lion. It will travel with Leo to the west, setting a couple of hours after midnight, just in preparation for the rise of Saturn in the east about an hour later.

Though Saturn and Mars are both distant from Earth, they are both 57 million miles nearer to Earth than they were at their furthest. Saturn remains much further away than Mars, but at their difference of size and distance, they both shine nearly equally bright in our morning sky.

For our longtime and faithful readers, in months past, we have been keeping an eye on the Moon when it passes the Pleiades star cluster. Back in February, the Quarter Moon was near the Pleiades in the middle of the month. This month, the star cluster is so low to the western horizon, it can not be observed any longer. The Moon encountered the Pleiades a full week before the first quarter phase, just after the Moon was new. For each quarter of the year, the Pleiades move one quarter of the lunar cycle. So, it will be near the Third Quarter Moon in August, the Full Moon in November, and back to the First Quarter by next February. It will have swung around through the entire lunar cycle through the course of one year. 

With Mercury being the brightest planet in the sky, if you only look to the sky this week, you are bound to see something amazing!

With our dark skies here, they only need to be clear, so keep your eyes on the skies from sunset to sunrise.

Thanks for the positive feedback about our featured columns, and your continued interest in astronomy. If you have any questions or article requests, contact us at spacescape@rocketmail.com, or follow us on Twitter @ColoSpacEScapE for updates and additional viewing opportunities.

ASTRONOMICAL TIMES AND DISTANCES of naked-eye objects for this weekend.

Sun Set = 7:56 p.m.
6 minutes later than last week
93.906 million miles from Earth
152,680 miles further than last week
2.502 million miles further than its nearest in January

Jupiter Set = 8:17 p.m.
19 minutes earlier than last week
21 minutes after the Sun
559.581 million miles from Earth
1,618,490 miles further than last week
189.257 million miles further than its nearest in November

Moon Set = 12:15 a.m.  
54 minutes later than yesterday
4 hour 19 minutes after the Sun
Waxing Crescent 18.55% Illuminated
239,912 miles from Earth
3,498 miles further than yesterday
14,181 miles further than last week
Nearest is 221,557 miles
Furthest is 252,665 miles

Saturn Rise = 3:09 a.m.
26 minutes earlier than last week
2 hours 42 minutes before the Sun
937.801 million miles from Earth
9,527,176 miles nearer than last week
57.711 million miles nearer than its furthest in February

Mars Rise = 4:00 a.m.
14 minutes earlier than last week
1 hour 51 minutes before the Sun
179.717 million miles from Earth
2,453,062 miles nearer than last week
57.267 million miles nearer than its furthest in October

Mercury Rise = 4:52 a.m.
9 minutes earlier than last week
59 minutes before the Sun
80.863 million miles from Earth
10,131,275 miles further than last week
27.280 million miles further than its nearest in April

Venus Rise = 5:38 a.m.
3 minutes earlier than last week
13 minutes before the Sun
159.837 million miles from Earth
974,653 miles further than last week
132.999 million miles further than its nearest in August

Sun Rise = 5:51 a.m.
7 minutes earlier than last week
93.915 million miles from Earth
8,423 miles further than last evening
151,368 miles further than last week
2,510,938 miles further than its nearest in January

First Quarter Moon occurs on Wednesday, May 15th, at 5:48 a.m.

We’ve Gained 13 Minutes Of Daylight since last week, and 1 hour 2 minutes since last month, and 4 hours 28 minutes since the December Solstice.

Our Nearest Planetary Neighbor currently is Mercury. It is 13 million miles nearer than the Sun.

No Planet In The Dark Sky for 6 hours 52 minutes. This is the duration between Jupiter Set in the evening and Saturn Rise in the early morning. No planets are visible with a naked-eye during this period.

Note: Times are local Mountain Time. Actual “sundown” is about a dozen minutes earlier than calculated “sunset”. Along the front range, differing times vary depending on your distance from the mountains.
________________
• · William J. Bechaver is the director of SPACE • Spanish Peaks Amateur Cosmos Enthusiasts, the premier Astronomical Society for Southern Colorado and Northern New Mexico.

The planets and their relative positions in the solar system for this weekend. Planet sizes and distances are obviously not to scale.

S·P·A·C·E•Date 16.4615 • 235 •

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PLANET PAIRINGS AND A METEOR SHOWER….

by William J. Bechaver

This week is a week for planets pairing with the Moon, as all the planets are lined up neatly in the morning sky, and the Moon is prepared to pass through for a visit.

On the morning of Friday 3 May, go out well before sunrise and look to the east. There you will find the crescent Moon hanging low in the sky. To the lower left of the Moon you will find Saturn. This is our first opportunity to find Saturn easily in a dark sky before the dawn’s early light begins to lighten the horizon.

Go out the following morning, and you will find that the planet locations have not been altered very much, but the position of the Moon will have changed.

On Saturday 4 May, the finer crescent Moon will now be located between Saturn, above to the right of the Moon, and Mars, below to the left of it. The planets are almost evenly spaced in the morning sky right now, and the Moon will nearly be equally placed between them.

On the late night of May 4th, and into the early morning of Sunday 5 May, the Eta Aquariid Meteor Shower will be reaching its period of maximum activity.

The later you go outside to look, the better will your chances be of seeing a quick Aquariid as it streaks across the sky.

The Eta Aquariid shower is usually thought of as primarily a southern meteor shower. And, indeed, the further you are south, the better the chances of seeing many meteors from this shower. The point in the sky from which the meteors seem to radiate is low in the south eastern sky just before the dawn begins to grow in the east.

But this year, the Moon is mostly out of the picture, so our chances for good views from our location is greatly improved. In fact, this will be our best spring meteor shower this year, as the Lyrids in April were totally compromised by the full Moon in the sky for the entire night of peak activity.

So, with this being our best chance to see meteors as  the evenings are warming, going out on the early morning of May 5th will be well worth the effort.

If you begin watching shortly after midnight, look high overhead in the sky, away from any interfering lights. Many meteors you will see this early will be skimming across the upper atmosphere, leaving long streaks of ionized gasses and particles glowing seconds after the parent meteor is gone.

Later in the morning, as you look to the east, toward Aquarius, toward the radiant, the point in the sky from which the meteors appear to originate, the meteors you will see will be shorter though brighter.

A meteor shower occurs when a passing comet leaves icy particles of debris in its wake. These particles continue to orbit the Sun after the comet passes through the inner solar system.

When the orbit of Earth carries our planet through the field of particles left behind, those bits of ice burn up as they enter our upper atmosphere, and we observe those streaks of flame as meteors.

The comet responsible for the Eta Aquariid meteors is the most famous of all, Halley’s Comet.

Halley’s Comet last passed through our inner solar system back in 1986. It has a 76 year orbital period, as it travels around the Sun in a very elliptical orbit. Since its last encounter with the Sun, it has been traveling away, into the depths of the solar system. It was at its furthest position from the Sun on December 9th, 2023, at more than 3.3 billion miles away, out beyond the orbit of Neptune. Which means, from that point forward, Halley’s  began its inward voyage toward Earth and the Sun. The journey is a long one. The next time we will see Halley’s Comet in our sky will be in 2061, when its inward voyage is nearly complete!

If you watch meteors on the dark morning of Sunday 5 May, you may want to keep watching until just before sunrise.

In the east, the fine crescent Moon will now be located low in the sky, with Mars now to the upper right. As the Moon makes its way higher into the lightening sky, you will be able to find tiny Mercury lower to the left of the Moon, along the light horizon. You will need a low and clear horizon to find the Moon, and to have any hope of locating Mercury a little lower than the Moon.

The Aquariid Meteors actually peak during the daylight hours of May 5th. But the peak period for this shower is very long, since the trail of particles left behind by Halley’s Comet is so wide, that we will have a second opportunity to watch the meteor shower the following morning.

On the morning of Monday 6 May, go out much as the night before. I will start watching just after midnight. The meteors strike the atmosphere at nearly 150,000 miles an hour, and are very bright. Again, the higher in the sky you look, the longer the streaks from the meteors will be. But, low to the east before sunrise, though with shorter trails, the opportunities will increase, as more meteors will strike in a more concentrated area of the sky.

Again, on the morning of May 6th, if you wait until moonrise, just before the Sun, you will find the very fine crescent Moon low on a clear horizon, with Mercury just to the right of the Moon. This may indeed be our best opportunity to find Mercury in the morning sky, with the ever sinking and diminishing Moon showing the way.

On Thursday 9 May, Mercury will reach its highest point in our morning sky, rising more than an hour before the Sun. Though the sky won’t be completely dark as Mercury rises, it will be our best chance for a clear view, as Mercury comes over the horizon in a relatively dark sky.

Mercury shines brighter than Mars and Saturn right now. The only thing that prevents a good view is the light present in the sky before sunrise. So, the best chance to find tiny, bright, Mercury is on Thursday morning, as it rises well in advance of the Sun. The earlier you look, the better are your chances of finding it before the brightness of the sky makes it all the more difficult.

So, with a meteor shower, and planets pairing, if you only look to the sky this week, you are bound to see something amazing!

With our dark skies here, they only need to be clear, so keep your eyes on the skies from sunset to sunrise.

Thanks for the positive feedback about our featured columns, and your continued interest in astronomy. If you have any questions or article requests, contact us at spacescape@rocketmail.com, or follow us on Twitter @ColoSpacEScapE for updates and additional viewing opportunities.

ASTRONOMICAL TIMES AND DISTANCES of naked-eye objects for this weekend.

Sun Set = 7:50 p.m.
7 minutes later than last week
93.753 million miles from Earth
168,535 miles further than last week
2.349 million miles further than its nearest in January

Jupiter Set = 8:36 p.m.
20 minutes earlier than last week
46 minutes after the Sun
557.963 million miles from Earth
2,523,265 miles further than last week
187.639 million miles further than its nearest in November

Saturn Rise = 3:35 a.m.
26 minutes earlier than last week
2 hours 23 minutes before the Sun
947.329 million miles from Earth
8,910,663 miles nearer than last week
48.184 million miles nearer than its furthest in February

Mars Rise = 4:14 a.m.
14 minutes earlier than last week
1 hour 44 minutes before the Sun
182.170 million miles from Earth
2,446,245 miles nearer than last week
54.814 million miles nearer than its furthest in October

Moon Rise = 4:27 a.m.  
27 minutes later than yesterday
1 hour 31 minutes before the Sun
225,731 miles from Earth
756 miles nearer than yesterday
13,540 miles nearer than last week
Nearest is 221,557 miles
Furthest is 252,665 miles

Mercury Rise = 5:01 a.m.
15 minutes earlier than last week
57 minutes before the Sun
70.731 million miles from Earth
8,738,106 miles further than last week
17.148 million miles further than its nearest in April

Venus Rise = 5:41 a.m.
5 minutes earlier than last week
17 minutes before the Sun
158.862 million miles from Earth
1,210,925 miles further than last week
132.024 million miles further than its nearest in August

Sun Rise = 5:58 a.m.
8 minutes earlier than last week
93.763 million miles from Earth
9,735 miles further than last evening
167,600 miles further than last week
2,359,570 miles further than its nearest in January

New Moon occurs on Tuesday, May 7th, at 9:21 p.m.

We’ve Gained 14 Minutes Of Daylight since last week, and 1 hour 5 minutes since last month, and 4 hours 15 minutes since the December Solstice.

Our Nearest Planetary Neighbor currently is Mercury. It is 23,031,929 miles nearer than the Sun.

No Planet In The Dark Sky for 6 hours 59 minutes. This is the duration between Jupiter Set in the evening and Saturn Rise in the early morning. No planets are visible with a naked-eye during this period.

Note: Times are local Mountain Time. Actual “sundown” is about a dozen minutes earlier than calculated “sunset”. Along the front range, differing times vary depending on your distance from the mountains.
________________
• · William J. Bechaver is the director of SPACE • Spanish Peaks Amateur Cosmos Enthusiasts, the premier Astronomical Society for Southern Colorado and Northern New Mexico.

The planets and their relative positions in the solar system for this weekend. Planet sizes and distances are obviously not to scale.

S·P·A·C·E•Date 16.4423 • 234 •

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