Stargazing on these nights has for the most part lost its chill, but honestly it’s also lost some of its thrill. The winter constellations, overall the brightest of the year, are about to go on a summer vacation from our evening skies and won’t be returning until late autumn.
That’s because the night time side of the Earth is turning to another direction in space as our world endlessly orbits the Sun.
In early May, Orion the Hunter and all of his gang of bright stars and constellations start out very low in the evening in the western sky.
By the end of the month, the great stars of winter have pretty much all sunk below the horizon by the time it’s finally dark enough to stargaze. By the end of May, that’s about 10 p.m. Stargazing is now officially a late night affair.
It’s true that the constellations of spring, at least compared to the winter shiners, aren’t nearly as dazzling, but there’s still much to see. Leading the charge of spring constellations is Leo the Lion in the high southwest. Look for the backward question mark that outlines the chest and head of the great lion.
The moderately bright star at the bottom of the question mark is Regulus, more than 77 light-years away (one light year equals just under six trillion miles). Just to the right of Regulus, though, is a much brighter “star” that’s actually the wonderful planet Saturn.
Earth and Saturn are pulling away from each other in the solar system, with Saturn nearly 850 million miles away. Even though it’s that far away you can still see the planet’s 136,000-mile-wide ring system with even the smallest of telescopes, and you can see at least some of its many moons that look like tiny little stars swarming around Saturn.
Unfortunately the angle of the rings with respect to the planet is getting very small and is almost edge-on from our view on Earth. Next year the ring system will be edge-on, so make sure you get a good look at the prettiest planet in our solar system, outside of our Earth.
In the high eastern sky look for the brightest star you can see. That’s Arcturus, the second brightest star in the night sky, and the brightest shiner in the constellation Bootes, which looks like a giant nocturnal kite, with Arcturus at the tail.
According to some tales, Bootes is hunting down Ursa Major, the Big Bear. The Big Dipper, high in the northern sky, makes up the rear end and tail of the Big Bear and is the brightest part of Ursa Major.
Since it’s nearly overhead this time of year, this is a great time to see the fainter stars that make up the rest of that constellation. See my Web site, lynchandthestars.com for details.
Mike Lynch is an amateur astronomer and professional broadcast meteorologist for WCCO Radio in Minneapolis and author of the book, “Washington Starwatch,” available at bookstores and at his Web site www.lynchandthestars.com.
The Everett Astronomical Society welcomes new members and puts on public star parties. The Web site is members.tripod.com/everett_astronomy.
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