Sky this Month

MAY 2020

By David Mills

Moon

• Full Moon will be on the 7th of the month at 6:45 A.M. EDT after moonset.

• This months Full Moon is the last Supermoon of 2020.

• May’s full Moon is called the Planting Moon.

Moon

• New Moon will be on the 22nd of May at 1:39 P.M. EDT.

Mercury

• Mercury reappears in the evening sky around mid-month.

• Mercury appears low in the western twilight sky just after sunset.

• Comet Atlas will also be seen low in the west at twilight. If the comet survives that long to see it.

• On May 21st Mercury and Venus share a close conjunction at evening twilight around 9:30 P.M. Seen low in the west.

Venus

• Venus shines in the western evening sky just after sunset at the beginning of the month.

Venus

• On the 21st of the month Venus and Mercury have a close conjunction just after sunset. Seen low in the western twilight.

• By month’s end Venus will be in close conjunction with the sun.

Mars

•Mars is seen in the southeastern sky in the predawn sky.

•On May 1st Mars is rising around 3:30 A.M. Mars is still in retrograde motion. (Moving Eastward).

•On May 15th, the Moon passes south of the planet in the early morning eastern sky.

Mars

• By month’s end the planet Mars now rises at 2:30 a.m. in the early morning sky to the southeast.

Jupiter

• Jupiter now rises around 2:10 A.M in the early morning sky looking east at the beginning of the month.

• The planet Saturn is also closing in on the planet Jupiter. Saturn now rises less than 30 minutes after Jupiter.

• On May 12th around 4:00 A.M the Moon passes just 4 degrees south of Jupiter.

• By the end of May Jupiter is now rising shortly after midnight.

Jupiter

• By the end of May Jupiter is now rising shortly after midnight.

Saturn

• Saturn is now rising in the late morning eastern sky after 2:30 A.M.

• On May 13th, the Moon makes a wide pass south of the planet around 3:30 A.M in the southeastern sky.

Saturn

• By month’s end Saturn is now rising at around 12:30 A.M EDT.

Uranus

• Uranus reappears low in the east in predawn twilight late in the month around May 27th.

• Located in Aries on the Cetus border where it will remain for the beginning of 2020.

• Uranus is still close to the sun and the viewing window is short this month.

• Uranus rises around 4:15 A.M, right before the beginning of morning twilight.

Neptune

• At the beginning of May, Neptune now rises around 4:20 A.M in the eastern sky. The planet remains in the stars of Aquarius.

• On May 16th, in the early predawn eastern sky the Moon makes a wide pass south of the planet.

Neptune

• By the end of the month Neptune rises around 2:30 AM.

DEEP SKY

COMET C/2019 Y4 ATLAS

COMET C/2019 Y4 (ATLAS)

• As of April 20, 2020 the comet has broken into 4 parts. The chances of Comet Atlas surviving until closest approach to the sun is slim at best.

• Over the next 2 weeks will be the best chance to catch it before it completely breaks apart.

COMET C/2019 Y4 (ATLAS)

• Skywatchers had high hopes that a comet called ATLAS would light up the night sky this spring, with forecasts suggesting it could become bright enough to see with the unaided eye.

• Instead, the icy object crumbled to pieces — but it's still putting on a spectacular show for scientists. Ye Quanzhi, an astronomer at the University of Maryland, snagged some time with NASA's Hubble Space Telescope to take a look at Comet ATLAS on Monday (April 20) and caught a stunning image of its fragments that he shared on Twitter as a preview of his research.

COMET C/2019 Y4 (ATLAS)

• Comet ATLAS (formally known as C/2019 Y4) has disintegrated before our very eyes, and two new images from the Hubble Space Telescope show the comet has crumbled into 25 pieces.

• Photo taken April 29, 2020 by Hubble Space Telescope

That is the Sky this Month

By David Mills