<\/p>\n
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Before we get into the May sky watching events, I would like to introduce you to the American Meteor Society, or AMS for short (<\/span>www.amsmeteors.org<\/span><\/a>).\u00a0 This non-profit scientific organization was formed in 1911 to \u201cinform, encourage, and support research activities of both amateur and professional astronomers who are directly interested in meteoric astronomy.\u201d\u00a0 A quick scan of the links provided on their menu page on their website leads one to a host of information about meteors and fireballs.\u00a0 By definition, a \u2018fireball\u2019 is a very bright meteor, usually brighter than magnitude -4 (which is about the same magnitude of the planet Venus).\u00a0 Fireballs will often leave a visible trail that may last several seconds after it passes.\u00a0 This information is provided because on April 9, 2022, my son and I observed a fireball while driving home from the Houghton area.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0We were about five miles outside of Greenland, MI traveling SW on M-26 from Twin Lakes..\u00a0 At first glimpse, I saw a fast moving object in the upper left corner of the windshield and my first thought was, \u201cAirplane.\u201d\u00a0 By the time I called my son\u2019s attention to it, the object was half way across our field of view.\u00a0 It disappeared behind the tree line to our right, now trailing a bright streak that covered half of the open sky ahead of us.\u00a0 The \u2018head\u2019 of the streak seemed to be widening as if the meteor itself was starting to break apart.\u00a0 The path seemed to be mostly parallel to the horizon in front of us and after a few seconds, the bright trail it left behind faded.\u00a0 A quick look at the dashboard clock told us it was 9:40 p.m. EDT.\u00a0 Noting the SW direction we were traveling, my first impression was the meteor\u2019s direction of travel seemed to be toward the NW.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0As soon as we got home, I looked up the AMS site and clicked on the \u2018report a fireball\u2019 link.\u00a0 The system they use for reporting observations has been greatly simplified in the last decade, so anyone familiar with filling out on-line forms or surveys can easily navigate ths site.\u00a0 The form begins by telling you the kinds of things you should NOT report.\u00a0 It then asks if you have a photo or video of the event.\u00a0 When it asked for our location, I entered \u2018M-26, Greenland, MI 49929\u2019 which produced a \u2018person\u2019 icon located in the middle of downtown Greenland.\u00a0 I was able to move the icon down M-26 to the approximate location where we saw the fireball.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0The site walks you through specific questions about your observation (each section provides very clear instructions about what they are asking for so one does not need a PhD of any kind to provide the information requested).\u00a0 With the form completed, they inform you the observation is now PENDING and will be published in their \u2018fireball log\u2019 when compiled.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0By the next morning, there had been over thirty observations recorded from Iowa, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Illinois, and Michigan (including ours from Greenland).\u00a0 By late afternoon, the number of recorded observations had climbed over 300.\u00a0 The map provided was so covered with icons showing the observer\u2019s locations, it was impossible to see the \u2018trajectory arrow\u2019 that had been calculated.\u00a0 Filtering out all but six of the locations uncovered the arrow and gave us a bit of a surprise.\u00a0 From our vantage point, we had guessed it may have crossed Lake Superior.\u00a0 The combined observations showed it first appeared where the southern border of Minnesota meets the western border of Wisconsin (roughly 250 miles as the crow flies from Greenland) and was indeed traveling in a northwesterly direction.\u00a0 One can visit the AMS site and find the information about this event in their \u2018fireball log\u2019.\u00a0 If you click on the \u2018person icon\u2019 in the upper right, it will provide the information we reported about the whole event.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0With that little bit of excitement taken care of, let us get on to the AstroCal happenings for May.<\/span><\/p>\n There will not be a lot of choices for planetary observations in the evening hours.\u00a0 <\/span>Mercury<\/b> will be low in the WNW early in the month.\u00a0 The planet will fade in brightness quickly and then drop out of sight later in the first week.\u00a0 It will reach inferior conjunction on May 21.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>Jupiter, Venus, Mars, <\/b>and <\/span>Saturn<\/b> will continue to populate the southeastern sky in the morning hours.\u00a0 Venus and Jupiter can be seen low in the east at dawn on May 1.\u00a0 The two brightest planets will only be 0.5 degrees apart and will spread farther apart as the month progresses.\u00a0 By month\u2019s end, the gap will have increased to 30 degrees (the width of your closed fist held at arm\u2019s length equals 10 degrees, so three \u2018fists\u2019 apart).\u00a0 Jupiter and Mars, on the other hand, will keep getting closer together until they are only 0.6 degrees apart on May 29.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0To find Saturn, start with Venus and Saturn low in the east and draw an imaginary line at an upward angle to Mars in the ESE and continue to Saturn in the SE.\u00a0 Venus will be shining at mag -4.1, Jupiter at mag -2.1, Mars at mag +1 and Saturn at +0.9.\u00a0 Both Mars and Saturn will be a little more difficult to see as the dawn skies brighten, so we will call this our May observing challenge.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0The <\/span>eta-Aquariid meteor shower<\/b> will peak in the morning hours of May 6, but it is not unusual to see increased activity in the nights before and after the peak.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0The <\/span>Lunar<\/b> highlight of the month will be the <\/span>Total Lunar Eclipse on May 15\/16.<\/b>\u00a0 The eastern half of the USA will see the entire eclipse beginning on May 15.\u00a0 The umbral phase will start at 10:28 p.m. EDT with totality commencing at 11:29 p.m. EDT.\u00a0 The period of maximum eclipse will be at 12:11 a.m. on May 16.\u00a0 The next Total Lunar Eclipse visible in its entirety across the USA will not take place until March of 2025 while the last was seen in January of 2019.\u00a0 Other Lundar cycle highlights will include a very young <\/span>Crescent Moon <\/b>making an appearance low in the western sky 40 minutes after sunset on May 1 and 2, the <\/span>First Quarter Moon <\/b>on May 8, the <\/span>Last Quarter <\/b>on May 22 and the <\/span>New Moon<\/b> on May 30.\u00a0 Enjoy your spring sky watching.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0<\/span>Compiled by Ken Raisanen of WOAS-FM – information provided by <\/span>Abrams Planetarium Sky Calendar<\/span><\/i>, Michigan State University.\u00a0 More information and subscription information can be found on\u00a0 their website at <\/span>http:\/\/abramsplanetarium.org<\/span>\/<\/span><\/a>skycalendar\/ or on Twitter at <\/span>http:\/\/twitter.com\/AbramsSkyNotes<\/span><\/a><\/span>.<\/span>\u00a0 Yearly subscriptions cost $12 and can be started anytime.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Top Piece Video – With Venus still playing an important part of morning observations, we could not help but use Shocking Blue’s VENUS as our exclamation point this month.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Before we get into the May sky watching events, I would like to introduce you to the American Meteor Society, or AMS for short (www.amsmeteors.org).\u00a0 This non-profit scientific organization was formed in 1911 to \u201cinform, encourage, and support research activities of both amateur and professional astronomers who are directly interested in meteoric astronomy.\u201d\u00a0 A 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