May 2015 Sky
- Posted by OCastronomy
- On May 2, 2015
- 0 Comments
May 2015 Sky
| 1 | Mercury 1.6° SSE of the Pleiades (20° from Sun, evening sky) at 6h UT. • The Pleiades (Wikipedia) |
| 2 | Moon near Spica (evening sky) at 14h UT. |
| 4 | Full Moon at 3:42 UT. • Full Moon Names (Wikipedia) |
| 5 | Moon near Saturn (morning sky) at 18h UT. Mag. +0.1. • Saturn (Wikipedia) |
| 6 | Moon near Antares (morning sky) at 5h UT. |
| 6 | Eta Aquarid meteor shower peaks. Active April 19 to May 28. Associated with Comet Halley. Very fast, bright meteors, up to 30 per hour. Favors skywatchers in the tropics and southern hemisphere observing after midnight. Bright moonlight will spoil the view. • The Eta Aquarids (Gary Kronk) • Meteor Shower Calendar (AMS) |
| 7 | Mercury at greatest elongation, 21° east of Sun (evening sky) at 5h UT. Mag. +0.4. |
| 9 | Venus 1.7° N of M35 cluster (43° from Sun, evening sky) at 22h UT. Mags. -4.2 and +5.3. |
| 11 | Last Quarter Moon at 10:36 UT. |
| 15 | Moon at perigee (closest to Earth) at 0h UT (366,024 km; angular size 32.6′). |
| 18 | New Moon at 4:13 UT. Start of lunation 1143. • Lunation Number (Wikipedia) |
| 19 | Moon near Aldebaran (13° from Sun, evening sky) at 3h UT. |
| 19 | Moon near Mercury (15° from Sun, evening sky) at 8h UT. Mag. +2.5. |
| 21 | Moon near Venus (evening sky) at 17h UT. Mag. -4.2. |
| 23 | Saturn at opposition (opposite the Sun) at 2h UT. The ringed planet is at its brightest (mag. +0.0) and closest in 8 years (globe diameter 19″, rings span 42″). Saturn’s rings are spectacular even in a small telescope. • Saturn (Wikipedia) • Opposition (Wikipedia) |
| 23 | Moon near Beehive cluster (evening sky) at 13h UT. • Beehive Cluster (Wikipedia) |
| 24 | Moon near Jupiter (evening sky) at 5h UT. Mag. -2.0. |
| 25 | First Quarter Moon at 17:19 UT. |
| 26 | Moon at apogee (farthest from Earth) at 22h UT (distance 404,244 km; angular size 29.6′). |
| 29 | Moon near Spica (evening sky) at 21h UT. |
| 29 | Venus 4.0° S of Pollux (evening sky) at 22h UT. Mags. -4.2 and +1.2. |
| May 2015 Sky All times Universal Time (UT). USA Eastern Standard Time = UT – 5 hours. | |
