May 2022
Comet Watch. (From 5th May onwards)
Comet 2021 03 was discovered in July last year and is due to swing around the Sun in April. If it survives, we may get a glimpse of it through May and even into June. On 8th May it will be at its closest to us. Binoculars may be necessary but comets are unpredictable in terms of brightness. Try and find this first time visitor. Here is a link to explain and help you locate it.
NASA has recently spotted a very large comet (C/2014 UN271) heading in our direction but fortunately it will not be a danger to us as it will pass at least a billion miles from the Sun. This is predicted to be around 2031. It currently has a core 50 times bigger than any known comet and estimated to be 80 miles across! Travelling at 22,000 miles per hour it is a hundred thousand times more massive than other comets found close to the Sun. To put this into perspective, some scientists now believe that the extinction of the dinosaurs were caused by a comet impact (rather than an asteroid). The diameter of that one was estimated to be about 7.5 miles. (Gulp!)
Total Eclipse of the Moon. (16th May)
Very low in the south-west in the early hours of 16th May, the Moon will pass into the shadow of the Earth. For those of you who are awake at 4.30am and have never seen an eclipse of the moon, set your alarm and try to get a clear view of the horizon. It will be brief, as the moon will start to set after totality.
A very peculiar phenomenon occurs during a total eclipse of the moon. The sun’s rays glance off the Earth’s atmosphere scattering the shorter wavelengths away casting a strange reddening glow on the moon’s surface.
Photo: Milan Davidovic January 2019 (Embsay)
Hercules.
This month see if you can spot the constellation of Hercules in the sky. It has a very distinctive centre, a keystone shape. It will be high in the East sky mid-month.
Looking East (almost overhead). May 30th 10pm
Hercules of Greek myth was forced into undertaking 12 tasks for killing his family. He is depicted as being a kneeling man. Strangely, despite the constellation’s great size, it lacks bright stars but does have one of the finest star clusters (M13). It is marked on my star chart as a very small green dot just slightly above the centre of the diagram. In reality it is the best northern hemisphere cluster in our skies. With binoculars it looks like a nebulous patch but through a telescope? Well, you need to get one!
Image: M13 Stephen Nicolas
Planets
The early morning (5am!) of the 1st May sees Venus and Jupiter rise together (superimposed), Mars to the right and then Saturn further right.
Full Moon 16th May
New Moon 30th May
Clear Skies
Milan Davidovic
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