{"id":3158,"date":"2024-04-22T15:40:45","date_gmt":"2024-04-22T15:40:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/?p=3158"},"modified":"2024-04-22T15:43:36","modified_gmt":"2024-04-22T15:43:36","slug":"astrocal-may-2024","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/?p=3158","title":{"rendered":"AstroCal – May 2024"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u00a0Did you get to enjoy the total solar eclipse on April 8, 2024?\u00a0 Ontonagon County got to watch the overcast sky darken and listen to the birds roosting, but seeing the actual eclipse had to be done on-line or on TV.\u00a0 It wasn\u2019t nearly as good in the Western Upper Peninsula as the show we saw in August of 2017.\u00a0 I did receive a nice photo snapped by former Ontonagonite John Fischer in Illinois (a nine hour drive from his current home in Green Bay).\u00a0 Our old NASA contact Ralph Winrich was taking some photos near Stoughton, WI when he happened to catch Force One winging its way to ward Madison.\u00a0 If you didn\u2019t get a good view, there are still numerous sites posting clear sky observations.\u00a0 The clips of the entire shadow crossing the United States taken from the International Space Station are worth finding.\u00a0 Other than that, it will be 2044 until the next total eclipse crosses the mainland United States following a path east from California.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0On to May and the end of the Lunar Cycle that began with the <\/span>New Moon \/ Eclipse<\/b> on April 8.\u00a0 The <\/span>Last<\/b> Quarter <\/b>and <\/span>Crescent Moon <\/b>will occur on May 1 & 5 or 6 (look low in the East).\u00a0 <\/span>Mars <\/b>and <\/span>\u00a0Mercury<\/b> will be nearby shining faintly at +1.1 and +0.7 magnitude.\u00a0 The beginning of the next cycle commences on\u00a0 May 7 with the <\/span>New Moon.\u00a0 <\/b>Those who seek the earliest glimpse of the <\/span>New Crescent Moon<\/b> should look near the WNW horizon about 40 minutes after sunset on May 8 & 9.\u00a0 The <\/span>First Quarter <\/b>and <\/span>Full Moon <\/b>are slated for May 15 and 23 and the month will close with the <\/span>Last Quarter Moon <\/b>on May 30.\u00a0 The Full Moon on May 23 will occult the bright red star <\/span>Antares <\/b>in <\/span>Scorpius the Scorpion<\/b>.\u00a0 More details on this even can be found at <\/span>abramsplanetarium.org\/skycalendar\/<\/span><\/a> .<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Sunday, May 5 will mark the only time a strong meteor shower will take place during a New Moon this year.\u00a0 According to the Abram\u2019s Planetarium, \u201cThe <\/span>Eta Aquarid<\/b> meteor shower will peak on May 5.\u00a0 The meteor shower is expected to show a noticeable burst for several days on either side of this peak.\u00a0 The meteoroids causing this year\u2019s outburst were ejected from <\/span>Halley\u2019s Comet <\/b>about 2500 years ago.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0As far as evening planets are concerned, May will be a big disappointment.\u00a0 After having fantastic views of <\/span>Jupiuter<\/b> all winter, this <\/span>Gas Giant <\/b>will finally disappear from view as it moves toward conjunction on May 18.\u00a0 Likewise, Unranus will be out of view with its own conjunction with the Sun on May 13 and Mercury will pass behind the Sun and not return to the night sky until late June.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Morning planetary observations will be a little more entertaining this month than the planet less evening skies.\u00a0 <\/span>Mercury, Mars, <\/b>and <\/span>Venus <\/b>can all be found low in the east during the pre-dawn hours early in the month.\u00a0 Though it will be at its greatest elongation 26 degrees west of the Sun on May 9, Mercury will not get very high above the horizon.\u00a0 This is because of the shallow angle of the ecliptic (the ecliptic is the plane of the planetary orbits around the Sun).\u00a0 Binoculars will be helpful spotting the Winged Messenger as it\u2019s magnitude will range between +1.0 and -0.8 during the month.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Mars begins May 16 degrees to the upper right of Mercury and this distance will increase to 31 degrees by month\u2019s end.\u00a0 Mars will appear dim at 1.1 mag because it is on the far side of the solar system at present.\u00a0 Mars will continue to get closer to the Earth all year, reaching opposition in January of 2025.\u00a0 The Red Planet begins May 184 million miles away from us and by May 31, it will be 173 million miles from Earth.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Continuing 14 degrees to the upper right of Mars, one will find <\/span>Saturn.\u00a0 <\/b>This distance will also increase by May 31 when it will be 35 degrees to the upper right of Mars.\u00a0 Through a small telescope, one can see the planet\u2019s rings tilted at 2.5 degrees from edge-on.\u00a0 The inclination of the ring system changes as we view them during Saturn\u2019s 30 year orbit around the Sun.\u00a0 Next year will be seeing an \u2018edge crossing\u2019 next year where the rings will be seen edge-on from Earth.<\/span><\/p>\n

Venus <\/b>will still be too close to the Sun to be seen until it re-emerges in the evening sky in July.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Our \u2018Abrams Planetarium factoid\u2019 for this month involves the Moon:\u00a0 \u201cThe Moon is approaching a <\/span>Major Standstill<\/b> in January 2025.\u00a0 A Major Standstill happens every 18.6 years as the Moon\u2019s orbit precesses,\u00a0 This causes the Moon\u2019s declination to range more than 5 degrees farther north and south each month compared to the average range.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Don\u2019t forget to celebrate <\/span>Astronomy Day <\/b>on May 18, 2024.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\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 their website at <\/span>http:\/\/abramsplanetarium.org\/<\/span><\/a>skycalendar\/ or on X (formerly Twitter) at <\/span>http:\/\/twitter.com\/AbramsSkyNotes<\/span><\/a>.\u00a0 Yearly subscriptions cost $12 and can be started anytime.<\/span><\/p>\n

Top Piece Video:\u00a0 Just a way to remind Venus that we look forward to her return!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00a0Did you get to enjoy the total solar eclipse on April 8, 2024?\u00a0 Ontonagon County got to watch the overcast sky darken and listen to the birds roosting, but seeing the actual eclipse had to be done on-line or on TV.\u00a0 It wasn\u2019t nearly as good in the Western Upper Peninsula as the show we […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11,8,9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3158","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-education","category-from-the-vaults","category-woas"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3158","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3158"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3158\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3161,"href":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3158\/revisions\/3161"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3158"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3158"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3158"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}