Uranogram showing Mercury low in the western sky on May 2, accompanied by the crescent and bright star Aldebaran. Credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech May begins and ends with some great planet-finding opportunities. On May 2, look west about 45 minutes after sunset to find Mercury about 10 degrees off the horizon, accompanied by a thin crescent. Just south of the Moon is the bright red giant Aldebaran, which should have about the same brightness as Mercury. (And by the way, this is the only chance to spot a planet with the naked eye early in the evening until August.) Uranogram showing how Jupiter and Mars will look extremely close to the morning sky on May 28-30. Credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech Then, in the last week of May, you can watch every morning as Jupiter and Mars get closer and closer to the sky before dawn. Their morning meeting culminates in a close connection that you can watch from 28 to 30, where they will be separated only by the width of the full moon. It should look incredible with binoculars, where you can also see the larger moons of Jupiter. Sky watchers in the western hemisphere can look forward to a total lunar eclipse in mid-May. The event will be visible across America, Europe and Africa – basically wherever the Moon is above the horizon at that time. Eclipse visibility map for the total lunar eclipse May 15-16, 2022. Credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech The visible part of the eclipse begins at about 10:30 p.m. US time on May 15, with the whole starting an hour later and lasting for about an hour and a half. Those in the eastern US will see the eclipse begin with the Moon well above the horizon. For the central US, the eclipse begins about an hour and a half after dark, with the Moon relatively low in the sky. On the west coast of the USA, the Moon rises with the whole beginning or is already in progress, so you will want to find a clear view to the southeast, if you look from there. Now, lunar eclipses are the ones that are safe to see directly with your eyes, binoculars or telescope (as opposed to solar eclipses). The Moon takes on a faint, reddish hue during the period of totality. Although the Moon is completely submerged in the Earth’s shadow at that time, the red wavelengths of sunlight pass through the Earth’s atmosphere and fall to the Moon’s surface. One way of thinking this is that a total lunar eclipse shows us a projection of all the sunrises and sunsets that are happening on the planet at that time. So check your local data for this eclipse and find much more information about the eclipse by NASA at this link. Finally in May, a very nice target for binoculars: the Coma stellar complex. This relaxed, open star cluster displays 40 or 50 stars spread across an area of the sky about three inches wide. The brightest stars in the cluster form a characteristic Y-shape, as shown here. Sky chart showing where you can find the coma in May. The swarm is about 6 ° wide and is located about 15 ° east of the rear quarters of Leo, the constellation of Leos, located high in the south. Credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech The Coma star cluster is about 300 light-years away, making it the second closest open cluster to Earth after the Yades cluster in Taurus. To find the Coma stellar complex, look south to the constellation of Leo. It may be easier to start from the Big Dipper, to the north, and use the two “star-pointers” at the end that always point you to Leo. Once you find Leo, the Coma stellar complex is located about 15 degrees east of the star triangle representing the back quarters of the lion. It is relatively easy to find with binoculars, even under light-emitting urban skies – as long as it is clean. So I wish you clear skies to find the Coma star cluster and any other wonders you discover in the night sky in May.
