Written by Alyssa Whalen
Happy May! Ohio’s weather is finally becoming more consistent after the whirlwind of a spring. The sun is rising bright and early around 6:15 am, and setting at 8:40 pm, averaging nearly 14 and a half hours of daylight this month. The days continue to grow longer until next month, but there are still plenty of warm weather nights to go out and observe!
The new moon occurs early on May 8th, which is just in time to enjoy the Eta Aquarids meteor shower. May’s full moon, called the Flower Moon due to the abundance of flowers that bloom in this season, occurs the night of May 23rd. The moon will be bright and easily observable in detail with binoculars or a telescope, but its brightness will make observing the sky’s fainter objects more difficult.
The Eta Aquarids meteor shower reaches its peak this month. The shower runs from April 19th to May 28th, but it peaks the morning of May 6th. This is one of the more popular meteor showers of the year, although it is much more active in Earth’s southern hemisphere. In the northern hemisphere, the shower will peak at around 30 meteors per hour with the radiant point being in the constellation Aquarius on the eastern horizon. This time of year, Aquarius does not rise until around 4 am, so the best time and place to view it will be between 4:30 am and sunrise on the southeastern horizon.
Mercury reaches its greatest western elongation on May 9th. This means from our point of view on Earth, Mercury will be the farthest west from the Sun that it gets in its orbit. Therefore, Mercury will be visible low in the eastern morning sky just before sunrise, although it will still be difficult to observe due to its proximity to the sun.
Sadly, this is a poor month to observe our solar system’s planets. Besides Mercury, they are too close to the sun to observe. Saturn and Mars are also visible if you are willing to get up and observe in the early morning. Saturn rises in the east near 3:50 am, and Mars rises slightly later at 4:30 am; though the planets will not be easily visible until later in the year.
It’s time to start saying goodbye to our favorite winter constellations. Orion and Taurus are on the western horizon around 10 pm, and they will set very quickly after sundown. Without the famous hunter to guide us, we have to turn northward to the tried-and-true pointer stars in Ursa Major. The Big Dipper, made up of a section of stars within Ursa Major, is the most popular navigational tool in the northern hemisphere’s sky. At Ohio’s latitude, it will never set below the horizon at any point throughout the year, so it is usable year-round. In May, The Big Dipper will be found above Polaris after sundown, and it will revolve counterclockwise around the North Star as the night goes on. Once you have found the Big and Little Dippers, Draco the Dragon weaves between the two ladles toward the northeastern horizon.
Pictured Below: The northern night sky at sundown on May 15th
Sources:
Image Credit:
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Flower Moon: https://www.timeanddate.com/astronomy/moon/flower.html ©iStockphoto.com/kumikomini
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Eta Aquarids Meteor Shower: https://www.indystar.com/story/news/2019/05/01/eta-aquarids-could-your-best-chance-see-meteor-shower-spring/3630061002/
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Mercury: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mercury_%28planet%29 Taken by Messenger in 2008
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Constellations: https://stellarium-web.org/