• 5 months ago
Find out where to see Saturn, Mars, Mercury and Venus this month. The moon passes in front of the star Antares and the Eta Aquariid meteor shower peaks.

Credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech
Transcript
00:00What's Up for May?
00:04The Moon hangs out with Saturn twice this month,
00:08the Scorpion's heart briefly goes missing,
00:12and meteors in the morning courtesy of Comet Halley.
00:16On May 3rd, in the hour or so before dawn, you'll find the crescent Moon
00:20rising with Saturn in morning twilight. The pair are trailed by the red planet
00:24Mars, which rises about 45 minutes after Saturn.
00:28They form a nice lineup in the east for early risers to enjoy.
00:32Then, on the following morning, the Moon shows a slimmer crescent and has moved
00:36between Saturn and Mars. The two planets are continuing to widen
00:40their separation, following a close conjunction in early April,
00:44where they appear super close in the sky. And if you have a clear view
00:48to the horizon, you might just catch a glimpse of Mercury rising in the hour before the Sun.
00:52It's shining pretty brightly, but it's also low
00:56in the sky and competing with dawn twilight, so it makes for a good challenge.
01:00Those in the southern hemisphere will have an easier time spotting Mercury
01:04as it rises a good bit higher in the sky for you.
01:08On May 23rd, the full Moon will appear quite close to the bright red star
01:12Antares in Scorpius as the pair rise.
01:16But for those on the east coast of the U.S., south of Delaware, and down
01:20through the whole state of Florida, you'll actually observe the Moon pass in front of
01:24Antares, an event called an occultation. Over a couple of hours
01:28as the pair rise into the night sky, the Moon will move slightly
01:32in its orbit, first obscuring and then revealing Antares.
01:36And finally, on May 31st, the planet Saturn rises
01:40in the wee hours of the morning with the crescent Moon in tow.
01:44If you're up early on the final day of May, you'll find the pair toward the southeast.
01:48They'll be close enough to appear in the same field of view if observing
01:52through binoculars. May brings one of two
01:56annual meteor showers that are attributed to Halley's Comet.
02:00The Eta Aquarid meteors are seen each year in May, whereas
02:04the Orionid meteors streak through our skies in October.
02:08This situation occurs because Earth crosses through
02:12Comet Halley's orbit twice every year in May and October.
02:16Along Halley's path is a meteor stream, lots of little
02:20grains of rock and dust cast off by the comet, and these strike
02:24our atmosphere and burn up as meteors. The shower peaks overnight
02:28on May 5th and into the morning of the 6th. You can see meteors from this shower
02:32the whole week centered around the peak night, though. The place on the sky
02:36where the meteors appear to originate, the radiant, is in the constellation
02:40Aquarius, so you'll have a chance to see meteors as long as the radiant is
02:44above the horizon, with more meteors the higher that point rises in the sky.
02:48This time of year Aquarius rises after midnight, so the time
02:52to watch this shower is in the few hours before dawn. This is a
02:56great shower for observers in the southern hemisphere. The radiant
03:00rises a good bit higher in the sky before morning twilight because in May,
03:04which is autumn there, nights are longer. Those in optimal
03:08dark sky conditions can see 40 meteors per hour.
03:12For northern hemisphere observers, it's less than half that amount, more like
03:1610-20 meteors per hour. It's still an above-average shower, though,
03:20especially with the peak this year being near a new moon, making for a
03:24darker sky. And with the warmer temperatures that come with springtime
03:28north of the equator, it can be a worthy shower to go out and enjoy.
03:32As always, to see the most meteors, find yourself a safe, dark
03:36spot away from bright lights and give your eyes a few minutes to adapt to the dark.
03:40Lie down with your feet pointed more or less toward the east and look
03:44straight overhead. Bring a warm drink and a friend or two and turn an
03:48early morning into a meteor morning as you search the skies for the
03:52Eta Aquarid meteors. Here are the phases of the
03:56moon for May. Stay up to date on NASA's
04:00missions exploring the solar system and beyond at science.nasa.gov.
04:04I'm Preston Dyches from NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory,
04:08and that's What's Up for this month.
04:12music
04:16music

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