Sky This Month May 2019

Mother’s Day The Sky This Month Edition RASC Recreational Astronomy for Apr 24th to May 21st

Location: M.A.M.A. Prepared by: Bryon Czarnik

!1 Mother’s Luna and Sol Dates . Day Edition • Luna [Gr. Selene] rides her chariot across the night sky, while her brother, Sol [Gr. Helios], rests

� Last Qtr � Earth Day 6:18 pm

Moon Apogee � 404,576 km New Moon 2:21 pm 6:45 pm

� First Qtr 9:12 pm Int’l Astronomy Day

Mothers Day Moon Perigee � 369,015 km Full Moon � 5:54 pm � 5:11 pm

Flower Moon, Corn Planting Moon, and Milk Moon Tigmiyikvik (Inuit), “time when ducks & geese return from south” Blue Moon (3rd full moon in astro. season with 4 full moons) Hunter’s Moon (S Hemisphere)

Native Full Moon Names: http://americanindian.net/moons.html !2 Mother’s Luna and Sol Dates . Day Edition • Luna [Gr. Selene] rides her chariot across the night sky, while her brother, Sol [Gr. Helios], rests

� Last Qtr � Earth Day 6:18 pm

Moon Apogee � 404,576 km New Moon 2:21 pm 6:45 pm Sunrise / Sunset (Daylight) Astronomical Twilight (Night) Apr 24 6:20 am / 8:11 pm (13:51) 4:32 am / 10:00 pm (6:32) � May 21 5:46 am / 8:41 pm (14:55) 3:39 am / 10:49 pm (4:50) First Qtr 9:12 pm Int’l Astronomy Day

Mothers Day Moon Perigee � 369,015 km Full Moon � 5:54 pm � 5:11 pm

Native Full Moon Names: http://americanindian.net/moons.html !2 Mother’s Mothers in the Solar System Day . Edition

Gaia “Mother Earth” !3 Mother’s Mothers in the Solar System Day . Edition

• Venus [Aphrodite], mother of Cupid and Aeneas; aﬀair with Mars [Ares] • Juno [Hera], jealous wife separated from Jupiter [Zeus] in asteroid belt • Jupiter [Zeus] • Io led a life tortured by jealous Hera. Was an ancestor of Hercules • Europa kept captive on and populated Crete. Source of name for Europe • Callisto transformed by Hera with son into Bear: Ursa Major and Ursa Minor • Leda, mother of Castor and Pollux • Amalthea, foster mother of Zeus • Saturn [Chronus] • Tethys, Titan daughter of Uranus & Gaia, and mother of Oceanus of river gods

• Calypso, sea nymph, kept Odysseus on island, till freed by Zeus Tethys • Dione, Titan mother of Venus [Aphrodite] • Phoebe, mother of Leto

Phoebe Dione Calypso !3 Mother’s πλανήτης (planēt) or Wanderers Day . Edition

Earth Moon

Fit all 700,000+ asteroids here since only ≅ 4% Moon’s mass!

4 Largest Asteroids

You can ﬁt all the planets in the Solar System back to back into the distance from the Earth to the Moon (about 384,400 km), with room to spare (8,030 km.)

Ref: https://www.universetoday.com/115672/you-could-ﬁt-all-the-planets-between-the-earth-and-the-moon/

!4 Mother’s A “Star” for Luna Day • Mercury is low and past its prime for viewing (Apr 24th Edition rises 4:30 am). Superior conjunction on May 21st • Venus is best observed over the next couple of weeks (-3.9 Mag, 11” size, gibbous)

• Mars visible in Taurus (WNW) after sunset (1.6 Mag, 4” size)

Conjunctions with crescent Moon:

Venus (-4 Mag) within 5° Mars within 5° but grazing horizon (5°)

Pre-dawn May 2nd May 6th & 7th 9:47pm !5 Mother’s A “Star” for Luna Day • Mercury is low and past its prime for viewing (Apr 24th Edition rises 4:30 am). Superior conjunction on May 21st • Venus is best observed over the next couple of weeks (-3.9 Mag, 11” size, gibbous)

• Mars visible in Taurus (WNW) after sunset (1.6 Mag, 4” size)

Low Low

May 18th @ 10:30 pm (Alt. 8°) May 19th @ 10:30 pm (Alt. 8°)

!5 Mother’s Day Gas Giants Edition • Jupiter and Saturn rise in the SE at 12:30 am and 2:15 am, respectively, on Apr 24th. Both rise 2 hr earlier by the end of May • Jovian Events • Apr 26th: Io eclipsed 12:46 am and occultation ends 3:54 am; Europa and shadow transit from 3:33 am • May 11th: Io and its shadow transit Jupiter; starting 2:32 am ✓May 18th: Ganymede exits occultation 2:16 am; Io & shadow transit Jupiter, from 3:44 am • Great Red Spot (GRS) transits around 12:30 am on May 3rd and May 15th • Uranus and Neptune make poor morning targets • Uranus (+5.9) is lost in sun’s/dawn’s glare. Visibility of May 18th Venus conjunction (≅1°) unlikely • Neptune (+7.9) rises by 5 am on Apr 24th. By May 21st, it rises 1½ hr earlier

21st

within 5-6° of Moon Jupiter Moon within 5° of Saturn @ -2.5 Mag, 45” size @ +0.5 Mag, 18” (36”) size, 24° ring tilt

May 20th @ 4:00 am Apr 25th @ 4:00 am nd !6 (Also, May 22 ) Lunacy Mother’s Day • Moon (6 da old) crosses Beehive May 10th Edition

9:45 pm 10:45 pm 11:45 pm

!7 Lunacy Mother’s Day Edition

• Only 27 of 1,600+ craters (<2%) are named after women, such as Leavitt, C. Herschel, Sklodovska (Marie Curie)

Ref: https://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/the-women-on-the-moon/article29128012/ !7 Lunacy T • Young and Old craters on May 13th � vs May18th � C

“Youthful” Tycho “Ancient” Clavius

108 M yr from Apollo 16 ray samples. 4 B yr old, almost as old as our Solar Sys. Age Formed by 8-10 km asteroid during Earth’s One of the older craters. Well preserved Cretaceous Period (Dinosaurs) 2nd largest; 231 km wide by 3.5 km deep; Physical Bright ray system extending up to 2,000 km. Unique counterclockwise arc of 5 interior Characteristics 86 km wide by 4.8 km deep craters of diminishing size from Rutherfurd 16th C German supported geocentric model; Astronomer 16th C Danish Tycho Brahe peer of Galileo Fame Site of alien monolith (2001: A Space Odyssey) Lunar Admin Base (2001: A Space Odyssey)

Rutherfurd

https://www.skyandtelescope.com/observing/full-moon-is-tycho-time/ !8 Mother’s Space Debris Day Edition • Meteors [Gr. ta meteōra: “the celestial phenomena” or “things in heaven above”] —> η (Eta) Aquarids

• Asteroids. [Gr. asteroeides: “star-like”] —> Pallas

• Comets � [Gr. komētēs: “long-haired (star)”] —>

• Zodiacal Light [Gr. zodiakos: “circle of animals”] —> ? • ISS Passes starting Apr 28th, evening & morning

ISS May 15th, 5am -3.1 ISS May 17th, 5am -3.7 ISS May 17th, 11pm -3.4 ISS May 18th, 10:19pm -4

www.heavens-above.com

!9 Mother’s Victoria Day Fireworks? …Day Edition If you can’t wait until 2061 for Halley’s Comet to return, catch the Eta (η) Aquarids (or Orionids in October) Origin: a stream from 1P/Halley 100’s of years ago • Broad 5 da maximum centered on May 6th • Less than 40/hr (<1/min) with swift and persistent trains

Brightening

Twilight!

Boo! No Moon! Yeah!

Low in the pre-dawn sky from 3am to 5am Source: SkySafari …… radiant rises to 25°by twilight !10 Mother’s Asteroids Day Edition • (2) Pallas (8.4 mag) well placed evenings in Coma Berenices • 2nd asteroid discovered (1802) after Ceres. Protoplanetary remnant? • 3rd most massive @ 7% of mass of asteroid belt (10-30% < Vesta) • About 500 km diameter • Pallas meteorites on Earth?

Sources: NASA, Wikipedia Commons; Heavens Above, Stellarium, !11 https://www.skyandtelescope.com/observing/celestial-objects-to- watch/do-we-have-pieces-of-pallas-on-earth05062015/ Mother’s Asteroids Day Edition

Name a KBO!

Enter by May 10th To name 2007 OR10

“Gonggong", "Holle" or “Vili” (Chinese, European and Nordic mythological ﬁgures)

An icy, rocky reddish Kuiper Belt Object (KBO) of an estimated 1,250 km diameter, making it one of the 10 largest discovered

https://2007or10.name

!11 Mother’s Star Struck Day Edition

⃝

⃝ ⃝ ⃝ ⃝

⃝ ⃝ ⃝

⃝

Source: SkySafari for Wed May 8, 2019 10:30pm

!12 Mother’s Celestial Mothers Day Edition

Source: SkySafari !13 Mother’s Celestial Mother’s Day Presents………Day • Jewelry Edition

• Flowers

• Chocolate Mother’s Celestial Mother’s Day Presents………Day • Jewelry Edition Diamond Ring Ast Ursa Minor 45’ around Polaris Polaris

Berenices Hair Clip G Coma Berenices NGC 4565 Coma Star Cluster OC Coma Berenices Mel 111 Hj1470 Crown C Corona Borealis / Australis

Fairy Ring Ast Cygnus 22’ ring of faint double stars Fairy Ring incl Hj1470/HD190466/SAO69335 Ring Nebula PN Lyra M57 Little Gem Nebula PN Sagittarius NGC 6818; visible in morning

1 DSantiago, Pbase, Fairy Ring • Flowers 167818492

• Chocolate

Notes: Ast (Asterism), OC (Open Clustr), G (Galaxy), N (Nebula), PN (Planet Nebula), A (Asteroid), C (Constellation) ref. Birren, Peter, Objects In The Heavens (OITHv6), http://www.birrendesign.com/astro.html Mother’s Celestial Mother’s Day Presents………Day • Jewelry Edition Diamond Ring Ast Ursa Minor 45’ around Polaris Polaris

Berenices Hair Clip G Coma Berenices NGC 4565 Coma Star Cluster OC Coma Berenices Mel 111 Hj1470 Crown C Corona Borealis / Australis

Fairy Ring Ast Cygnus 22’ ring of faint double stars Fairy Ring incl Hj1470/HD190466/SAO69335 Ring Nebula PN Lyra M57 Little Gem Nebula PN Sagittarius NGC 6818; visible in morning

1 DSantiago, Pbase, Fairy Ring • Flowers 167818492 Rosette Nebula N/ Monoceros Caldwell 49 w OC NGC 2244 OC Iris Nebula N/ Cepheus NGC 7023 OC Caroline’s Rose OC Cassopeia NGC 7789 86 Asteroids named e.g. Begonia, Petunia, after Flowers and A Asteroids Camelia, Azalea, Orchis, Plants Tulipa • Chocolate

Berenices Hair Clip G Coma Berenices NGC 4565 Coma Star Cluster OC Coma Berenices Mel 111 Hj1470 Crown C Corona Borealis / Australis

Fairy Ring Ast Cygnus 22’ ring of faint double stars Fairy Ring incl Hj1470/HD190466/SAO69335 Ring Nebula PN Lyra M57 Little Gem Nebula PN Sagittarius NGC 6818; visible in morning

Find H1470, a double star a degree NE of 25 Cygni between Ɣ (Gamma/Sadr) Hj1470 and η (Eta) Cygna

H1470 and three similar-looking pairs form an arc less than ½ degree across.

More dimmer stars complete the Fairy Ring (Dim in 70mm refractor at 68x) Fairy Ring

DSantiago, Pbase, Fairy Ring 167818492

Doubles from W to E: • SEI 825 (mag 10.0 and 10.8, separation 6.9"), • A 1412 (9.0 and 9.3, 0.8"), • H1470 (7.4 and 9.2, 28.6"), and • PAN 17 (8.3 and 11.4, 16.6”) Birren, Peter, Objects In The Heavens (OITHv6), • The remaining doubles are fainter !15 Mother’s Star Struck Day Edition Beehive Cluster or Praesepe. 75 ⭐ s in binos, 350⭐ s in � . M44 Cnc � One of closest @ 610 LY. Same origin as Hyades? M81, M82 UMa � Bright Bodes Nebula (M81) and thin smudge, Cigar Galaxy. @ 12M LY M66, M65, Leo Leo Triplet. Spiral galaxies. NGC3628 is Hamburger. M66 brighter. @ 40M LY NGC 3628 � Markarian’s Vir Curved chain of galaxies in Virgo Cluster. Most appear to have similar motion. Chain � Includes two Messier (M84, M86) and half a dozen NGC's.

M104 Vir � Sombrero edge on galaxy. Prominent dust lane. Large bulge. +8.2 Mag. @28M LY

4.5° Coma Star Cluster @ 400M yr old; 288 LY, 3rd closest after Ursa Major Cluster Melotte 111 Com � and Hyades

Cor Caroli CVen � Watch out Albireo. Double @ 19” separation, 115 LY Gobs of Multi Globular clusters rising over the evening into morning - e.g. M3 (Canes Venatici), Globulars ple � M5 (Serpens), M13 (Hercules), Ophicius, …

Markarian’s Chain taken 2016 by Steve McKinney

Leo Triplet taken May, 2013 by Steve McKinney !16 Mother’s Star Struck Day Edition M87’s Black Hole Powehi, “the adorned fathomless dark creation”

Markarian’s Chain taken 2016 by Steve McKinney

!16 In the Eyepiece: a Hamburger, Sombrero Mother’s & Chain Day Edition

Markarian’s Chain, M87 in Virgo Cluster By Michael Vlasov, DeepSkyWatch.com on Apr 21-22, 2012, 0:300 Location and conditions: Borot Lutz, Negev desert, Israel, ~6.9 NELM. Instrument: Skywatcher BKP250 10" F/ 5 Newtonian, Hyperion 31mm eyepiece, 39X, 1.86° TFOV. www.deepskywatch.com/ bristolweather.org.uk/galaxies/ index.html Galaxy viewing with binoculars.php

!17 Mother’s a ⭐’s Trek Day Edition

GY Chi

c ⃝ 56

• Wolf 359, a red dwarf in Leo @ 13+ Mag and one of nearest ⭐’s @ 8 LY • Huge proper motion of 5”/yr or ¼ width of Full Moon in a lifetime • Star Trek, Battle of Wolf 359, 2367 AD • The Borg, human cyborgs, defeated the Federation, but Captain Picard & the Enterprise defeated The Borg and saved Earth �

!18 Mother’s Occultations Day Edition

https://occultations.org/observing/occultation-predictions/ (incl RASC handbook predictions)

!19 Mother’s Space Missions Day Edition

By Olaf Frohn - http://www.planetary.org/multimedia/space-images/charts/whats-up-in-the-solar-system-frohn.html

!20 Mother’s Space Missions Day Edition

OSIRIS-Rex and Bennu

!20 Mother’s Space Missions Day JAXA’s Hayabasu II and Ryugu Edition

!20 Mother’s Space Missions Day SpaceIL’s Beresheet Lander Edition

!20 Mother’s New Ride for Mom? Day Edition • Starman and the Tesla Roadster are over 2 AU from Earth • Orbital period around Sun is 557 days • Exceeded its 36K mi warranty over 14K times • Fuel economy of 0.06 l/100 km assuming 126K gal of fuel • Listened to Bowie’s “Space Oddity” over 100K times

Where is “Starman”?

Sources: https://www.whereisroadster.com Location on May 10th, 2019

!21 Mother’s Space Launches Day Edition

!22 Mother’s Space Launches Day • Apr 30 CRS-17: Falcon 9 launch of 17th Dragon supply cargo to ISS Edition • May 3/4 tbd STP-27RD: Rocket Lab’s (US) Electron rocket will launch 3 satellites from New Zealand for the US military to demo commercial spacecraft capabilities (Army), avionics+software deﬁned radio & space situational awareness (Air Force) and tracking of space debris (Air Force) • NET May 10 DirecTV 16 & Eutelsat 7C: Ariane 5 double satellite launch of geostationary broadcast and TV communications satellites - DirecTV (USA) and Eutelsat (Africa, Europe, the Middle East and Turkey) • May 13 tbd Glonass M: Soyuz rocket launch of a Russian Glonass M navigation satellite • NET May 16 Radarsat C1, C2 & C3: Falcon-9 rocket from Vandenberg AFB will launch Canadian Radarsats to provide weather, disaster management & ecosystem monitoring • NET May 27 Amos 17: Falcon 9 launch of Israeli (SpaceIL) satellite to provide high-throughput broadband connectivity and other comm services over Africa, the Middle East and Europe • May 29 Yamal 601: Proton launch of Russian communications satellite • May tbd RISAT 2B: Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) launch by India of Earth radar imaging satellite • NET May (likely July) Chandrayaan-2: India’s 2nd robotic Moon mission launched by GSLV Mk II. Consists of Orbiter, Lander & Rover (1st mission was orbital from Oct 2008 - Aug 2009) • Goals: soft-land & operate rover; study lunar topography, mineralogy, elemental abundance, the lunar exosphere, and signatures of hydroxyl and water ice

NET: No Earlier Than !22 Mother’s Sky at a Glance Day Edition

Moon - Saturn � Last Qtr 6:18 pm Hubble Launched Jupiter Io Eur Celsius d. 1744 (42yr) � Earth Day 1990 Transit

Moon Apogee � New 6:45 pm 2:21 pm Moon - Venus Star Wars Day Jan Oort b. 1900 “may the 4th …”

Eta Aquarids � 1st Qtr 9:12 pm � Moon - Mars Moon - Beehive 4:00 am Jupiter Io Transit Otto Von Struve b. 1819 Int’l Astronomy Day

Mothers Day Moon Perigee Venera 5 Lands Jupiter Io Gan Transit 5:54 pm On Venus 1969 � � Full � Moon 5:11 pm

Tigmiyikvik (Inuit), “time when ducks & geese returned from south” Williamina Fleming Moon - Saturn Blue Moon (3rd full moon in season with 4 full moons) Moon - Jupiter d. 1911 (54) Hunter’s Moon (S Hemisphere)

Legend: Morning events are in Italics Native Full Moon Names: http://americanindian.net/

!23 Mother’s References Day Edition • RASC Observer’s Handbook 2019 • Astronomy, SkyNews: Mags, Web Sites • SkySafari, Stellarium: Planetarium S/W • www.aerith.net Comet Information + www.heavens-above.com ISS, Satellites, Comets, Asteroids, etc. • Birren, Peter, Objects In The Heavens (OITHv5), http://www.birrendesign.com/astro.html in PDF or “pocket” book. Excellent! Objects to 10th Mag by constellation, plus handy ref lists, moon phases

• http://www.messier.seds.org/xtra/marathon/marathon.html Machholz, Don, The Observing Guide to the Messier Marathon, New York: Cambridge Univ Press, 2002

• https://occultations.org/observing/occultation-predictions/ Lunar and Asteroid Occultations (incl. RASC data) • http://www.planetary.org/multimedia/space-images/charts/whats-up-in-the-solar-system-frohn.html by Olaf Frohn, Map of Space Missions

• https://www.spaceﬂightinsider.com/launch-schedule/ https://spaceﬂightnow.com/launch-schedule/ https:// www.spacelaunchschedule.com/launch-schedule/ Space Launches and Missions

• https://www.calsky.com/cs.cgi? Calculation of various astro/space events (e.g. GRS) for selected time periods • http://www.skymaps.com for monthly star chart, observing highlights & visual/bino/telescope targets • www.deepskywatch.com/index.html Sketches + bristolweather.org.uk/galaxies/Galaxy viewing with binoculars.php

!24 Mother’s Objects in the Heavens Day Edition

!25 Mother’s Objects in the Heavens Day Edition

!25 Mother’s Day Happy Mother’s Day Edition

Clear Skies!

!26