The skies of May

 For the past year we have been lucky to have as many as 8 planets in the sky to view. As if to balance things out, now there are no planets in the evening sky. There are still planets visible, but you will have to be an early riser. If the nighttime suits you better, there are a number of starry spectacles and moon events to see.

 If you look at the eastern horizon just before dawn breaks, you will see where the planets have been hiding. Jupiter, Venus, Saturn and Mercury are all visible in the predawn sky. During the first part of the month, Saturn and Mercury present a bit of a challenge because they are so very close to the Sun.

 Venus and Jupiter are the two brightest planets, Jupiter is to the upper right of Venus. These two planets are moving apart in the sky by about 1 degree every day. They are 8 degrees apart at the beginning of the month and 37 degrees apart by month's end.  Venus is quite brilliant but will fade slightly as the month progresses. Venus is speeding away from the Earth, moving ahead in its faster orbit around the Sun.

 Saturn is very close to the Sun at the beginning of the month, but by mid-month, its easy to spot about 30 minutes before sunrise. And on the 28th and 29th, Saturn is less than 0.7 degrees from Venus. Saturn and Mercury are also moving away from each other and by mid-month the two are separating by  over 1 degree per day.

 Unless you look for Mercury in the first half of the month, don't count on seeing it at all. Mercury, unlike  Jupiter and Saturn, is moving closer to the Sun. By the end of the month is will be all but impossible

 If early mornings aren't for you, there are still sights to see in the night sky. The moon parades across the sky this month passing by some interesting celestial objects. The full moon of May is called the Planting, or Milk moon and occurs on the 11th. But you will want to watch the moon during this month and use it to identify some stars and constellations of spring.

 The first quarter moon is on the third and on this and the next night, the waxing crescent moon passes just below Cancer the Crab. Binoculars or a small telescope will reveal the Beehive star cluster in Cancer.

Below the moon is the bright star Procyon in the constellation of Canis Minor, the Lesser Dog. On May 5th, the moon is just about 5 degrees east of the bright star Regulus in the constellation Leo the Lion. And on May 8th, the nearly full moon will be 5 degrees north of Spica, the brightest star in  Virgo. Two days  later on the 10th the moon is 10 degrees north of the red star Antares in Scorpius. As an aid to measuring degrees in the sky: a fist held at arm?s length covers about 10 degrees of sky.

 From the 20th on, the moon moves to the morning skies where it lurks close to the morning parade of planets mentioned earlier.