Dark Sky News
May 2024
This month’s meeting (Thurs. Apr. 25): Solar Eclipse and NEAF Report!
Click here for the SAS Pictures of the Month (May 2024)!
Catch the once-in-a-lifetime nova outburst of T Coronae Borealis! Learn more about this spectacular event here.
The great red giant Arcturus marks the constellation Bootes. For deep sky enthusiasts, take a look at Arp 117!
Virgo contains 11 Messier objects as well as a large number of deep sky objects. Here are some highlights:
NGC4435/NGC4438 – the Eyes Galaxies are a pair of interacting galaxies (the filming location for the black hole starring in the movie Interstellar!)
NGC4216 forms a beautiful triplet of galaxies – see if you can still see the supernova that exploded there just two months ago!
M87 – second brightest galaxy of the Virgo Cluster
3C 273 – nearest and most luminous quasar in the sky!
NGC 4567 and NGC 4568 (the Siamese Twins) form a pair of colliding spiral galaxies in the Virgo Cluster.
This is an above average meteor shower, reaching a rate of about 30 meteors per hour. It is produced by the remnants of Halley’s Comet and appears to emanate from the constellation Aquarius. With the new moon and dark skies, it should put on quite a show the night of May 6 (Monday night)!
Perfect time to observe some deep sky galaxy objects!
Two beautiful overhead passes of the ISS as bright as Venus occur on:
May 11:
- traverses the sky beginning in the SW corner, through Leo, straight overhead and right by Vega in Lyra setting in the NE corner of the sky
- rises at 9:10:58 PM, is overhead at 9:16:20 PM and finally sets at 9:21:44 PM
May26:
- traverses the sky beginning in the NW corner, straight overhead and right by the bright red giant Arcturus, finally disappearing into the Earth’s shadow just before hitting the SE corner of the sky
- rises at 9:20:55 PM, almost directly above at 9:26:18 PM, then enters shadow at 9:28:20 PM
This data was obtained from www.heavens-above.com, which is a great resource for satellites and other current events in the sky.
Observe Vesta right in the middle of Gemini, only 5 degrees away from the crescent Moon. Finder charts are here, while information on the asteroid can be found here.