Stargazing: May skies full of wonder

In the month of May we will have a full moon on the 3rd and a new moon on Victoria Day, the 18th. The η Aquarid meteor shower will peak in the early morning hours of the 6th. Mercury is in a good position for viewing in the evening twilight in the West from the 1st – 21st. Venus will be very bright in the western sky after sunset. Jupiter appears in the western evening sky and moves eastward in the constellation Cancer, setting after midnight. Saturn is visible most of the night throughout the month, moving from Scorpius into Libra on the 12th. On the 20th Jupiter’s moon Ganymede will eclipse its moon Europa at 9:33 PM. On the 21st the crescent Moon, Venus, and Jupiter will be within 8 degrees of one another. Saturn will be at opposition on the 23rd, with its rings tilted 24 degrees toward Earth. Uranus will be low in the eastern sky in Pisces, but hard to see in the twilight glow in the first half of the month. The Moon occults Uranus on the 15th. On May 8 Dr. Levon Pogosian from Simon Fraser University will be speaking at the Sunshine Coast Arts Centre at 7:30 PM. His topic will be “From Static to Expanding to Accelerating: the past 100 years and the next 20”. Admission is by donation. Check out the Sunshine Coast Centre website for more information on astronomy: www.coastastronomy.ca.