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11:00 pm on May 1 N 10:00 pm on May 15 9:00 pm on June 1 CASSIOPEIA To use this chart: hold the chart in front of you and turn it so the direction Deneb CEPHEUS you are facing is at the bottom of the 2018 chart. Capella Bright Stars CYGNUS AY Medium Bright Stars Polaris AURIGA Faint Stars DRACO M Scan dark skies Vega LITTLE with binoculars: DIPPER Castor GEMINI LYRA M-13: The Hercules Cluster URSA MAJOR Pollux M-44: The Beehive Cluster HERCULES BIG M-13 DIPPER CANCER CANIS E OPHIUCHUS M-44 MINOR SERPENS Arcturus W CAUDA CORONA It’s spring! The days have LEO BOREALIS been getting longer ever COMA since the rst day of winter, SERPENS BERENICES Procyon CAPUT and will continue to lengthen BOOTES until the rst day of summer, Regulus VIRGO June 20. CRATER From Nashville: HYDRA Full Moon CORVUS Sunrise Sunset LIBRA May 29 May 1 5:55 AM 7:34 PM May 15 5:41 AM 7:46 PM Spica June 1 5:31 AM 7:58 PM Jupiter Last Quarter Antares May 7 New Moon S May 15 Download monthly star charts and learn First Quarter more about our shows at adventuresci.org May 21 May 2018 Not too far from Spica is the bright planet Jupiter. If you have After Sunset binoculars, you may be able to see the giant planet’s four largest As the sky begins to darken after sunset, look to the west for moons. Watch Jupiter’s moons over several nights to watch them brilliant Venus. This ‘evening star’ will remain visible in the orbit around their parent planet. If you have trouble steadying your early evening through late summer. binocular view on Jupiter, try leaning them up against the side of a building or another steady surface. Look high in the north for the Big Dipper. As famous as the Dipper is, it’s not always easily visible from our latitude A small telescope not only shows the moons of Jupiter, but also its in Tennessee. During the autumn, it stays hidden near the cloud bands. Jupiter has stripes! Look for our own Moon next to northern horizon, only to emerge in the wee hours of the Jupiter on May 27. morning. But in the spring, the Dipper is easy to find, high in Saturday, May 12 Look to the east for the constellation Hercules and the globular the northwest after sunset. cluster known as M-13. Using binoculars, you may be able to spot a adventuresci.org/saturday The Big Dipper is not officially a constellation; it’s what round-shaped glow. If that blurry glow doesn’t seem impressive, just astronomers sometimes call an asterism. The Big Dipper is remember that it’s a collection of around 300,000 stars, at a distance 6:30 pm: Nightwatch a familiar name for this pattern of stars, especially known of over 22,000 light years, at an age of over 11 billion years old. 7:30 pm: Fulldome Feature: to observers in the United States, but it’s not one of the 88 Art Universe constellations recognized by astronomers worldwide. Ursa Stay Up Late 8:30 pm: She Blinded Me With Lasers: Major the Great Bear is the official constellation here, but 80s Classics you’ll need dark skies to see its fainter stars. Stay out past midnight and look toward the east to see three bright stars that make up the Summer Triangle. Low in the southeast you 9:30 pm: Laser Tribute Use the two stars at the end of the Dipper’s bowl to lead may find the bright red star Antares in Scorpius the Scorpion. Under 10:30 pm: Michael Jackson you to Polaris, also known as the North Star. Polaris is not very dark skies, look for the Milky Way stretching from Scorpius a particularly bright star, but it does remain fixed in the sky through the Summer Triangle, and on towards the northern horizon. throughout the night and throughout the year, When you face This month the North Star, you’re facing due north. Polaris is at the end A Look Ahead of the handle of the Little Dipper. This group of stars is also in the Sudekum Planetarium: officially known as Ursa Minor the Little Bear. As the Earth orbits the Sun throughout the year, the constellations rise and set just a little bit earlier every day. You won’t see much Imagine poking a hole in the bottom of the Dipper to let the difference from night to night, but you will over the course of weeks water drip out. The water falls onto the back of Leo the Lion. or months. What we see in today’s pre-dawn sky is a preview of the The head and mane of the lion are represented by a group of early evening sky in later months. Go out before dawn this month for stars that looks something like a backwards question mark. a look ahead at the summer night sky. Other stargazers imagine the top hook of a coat hanger, or a sickle in this group of stars. The “dot” at the bottom of the Just before dawn, the Summer Triangle is high the sky and Scorpius question mark is Regulus, the brightest star in Leo. It marks crawls along the southern horizon. Autumn constellations such as Dream To Fly the heart of the lion. Pegasus the Flying Horse and Andromeda the Princess are rising in Showtimes and info at the east. Go back to the Big Dipper once more and follow its curved adventuresci.org/schedule handle to trace an ‘arc’ to Arcturus, the orange colored star Look to southeast around 3 or 4 am for Mars and Saturn. These two in Boötes the Herdsman. Then speed on to Spica, the single start the month close to each other, but over the following weeks, bright star in Virgo the Maiden. Neither of these constellations Mars will gradually drift eastward relative to Saturn. Both planets will Local Astronomy Events has any other bright stars. Even under dark skies away from be high in the south just before sunrise. Look for the Moon near them The next free public star parties are scheduled for Friday, May city lights, it’s hard to imagine these mythological figures just on the mornings of the 4th, 5th, and 6th. Don’t confuse Mars with its 11 from 8:30-10:30 pm at Bells Bend Outdoor Center and by connecting the dots. rival Antares in Scorpius. Antares is a red supergiant star. Its brightness Saturday, May 19 from 8:30-10:30 pm at Long Hunter State and color led to its ancient name, meaning “anti-Ares.” Ares is the Park. Come observe Jupiter, Venus, star clusters, and more Greek name for the Roman god Mars. So as you watch this part of the through telescopes provided by members of the Barnard- sky, make sure you know which one is Mars, and which one is Not-Mars! Seyfert Astronomical Society. If you’re not sure, look to see if its twinking. Stars twinkle, planets don’t! Visit the BSAS web site at bsasnashville.com for details. If the weather is bad, the star party will be cancelled. Make Mars is heading towards a close approach with Earth this summer. It sure to check their web site for updates before making the will gradually get brighter, reaching maximum brightness around the trip to a star party, especially if the weather is iffy. On the Download this star chart and learn more end of July. By that time it will be in our evening skies, just rising as BSAS web site you’ll also find driving directions and a list of the Sun sets. It will be close enough that small telescopes may be able future events. about our shows at adventuresci.org to reveal usually hard-to-see surface features like the polar ice caps..
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