Article - Planets in View 1 May
Oh, sign me up!
"Once again in May, five planets will stretch along the early morning horizon.
At the very end of the month, Mercury joins this array, making an appearance right on the eastern horizon. You also may see Mercury near the Pleiades in the constellation Taurus about 9:15 p.m. during the first week of May.
The dwarf planet Pluto is also in that lineup, high and to the south of Jupiter, but very hard to find, even with a star chart. You would need the light-gathering power of a 12-inch aperture telescope, and a 9 mm eyepiece, which would give you 182x, and a very dark, clear sky. You would then have to find the faintest object in the exact spot in the sky among 27 brighter points of light in your field of view. That would be Pluto, at magnitude 14. No wonder it wasn't found until 1931.
Q&A
Q: I read where the Mayan calendar will end in 2012, and a lot of Web sites say there are other heavenly signs pointing toward some sort of worldwide cataclysm. Will this happen in three years?
First of all, in 2012, the Mayan calendar simply starts a new cycle of 7,885 years. It does not end, much in the way that when your car's odometer reaches 100,000 miles, your car does not stop (well, maybe mine will). The odometer just rolls over and begins again at zero. The other ''heavenly signs'' are equally unfounded.
What will happen, at least astronomically, are two partial lunar eclipses, an annular solar eclipse and a total solar eclipse — none of which will be visible from our area."
"Once again in May, five planets will stretch along the early morning horizon.
On Friday, around 5:30 a.m., Mars stands right in the east, and as you move your gaze toward the south, you will see Venus, Uranus and Neptune (for these two, you'll need binoculars or a telescope), and then Jupiter in the southeast.
At the very end of the month, Mercury joins this array, making an appearance right on the eastern horizon. You also may see Mercury near the Pleiades in the constellation Taurus about 9:15 p.m. during the first week of May.
Venus will be at its brightest this year for the first two weeks of May at magnitude -4.7. If you then spot Saturn in Leo some evening this month, you will have seen all eight planets — after looking down upon the Earth.
The dwarf planet Pluto is also in that lineup, high and to the south of Jupiter, but very hard to find, even with a star chart. You would need the light-gathering power of a 12-inch aperture telescope, and a 9 mm eyepiece, which would give you 182x, and a very dark, clear sky. You would then have to find the faintest object in the exact spot in the sky among 27 brighter points of light in your field of view. That would be Pluto, at magnitude 14. No wonder it wasn't found until 1931.
The waning crescent moon passes through this planetary lineup May 12-21. May 17 at 4:30 a.m. will be a great opportunity to see the last quarter moon, Neptune and Jupiter with a pair of 7x50 binoculars. Look right in the southeast about 20 degrees above the horizon.
May's meteor shower, the Eta Aquarids, rains down over three nights, May 4-6. The peak may be at midnight May 5, with 10 to 15 meteors an hour. This meteor shower is one of two that originate from the debris trail of Halley's Comet, the other being the Orionids in October.
Q&A
Q: I read where the Mayan calendar will end in 2012, and a lot of Web sites say there are other heavenly signs pointing toward some sort of worldwide cataclysm. Will this happen in three years?
A: Once again, no evidence from any scientific discipline suggests any disaster occurring in 2012. I get this question over and over from my e-mail, phone calls and after almost every planetarium presentation, so I'll answer it one more time.
First of all, in 2012, the Mayan calendar simply starts a new cycle of 7,885 years. It does not end, much in the way that when your car's odometer reaches 100,000 miles, your car does not stop (well, maybe mine will). The odometer just rolls over and begins again at zero. The other ''heavenly signs'' are equally unfounded.
What will happen, at least astronomically, are two partial lunar eclipses, an annular solar eclipse and a total solar eclipse — none of which will be visible from our area."
Comments