OBSERVING Using the Map c Fa in EUS CEPH eb C Y G N C O ub an 60° Mizar & Alcor M51 s R 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 Variable star 16h S 20 Double star IU 19 Galaxy SE P 18 s 16 re 15 9 17 31 Spica O 14 8 ta An 13 7 2 4 M 12 6 g in 11 5 S AT FR I THU c Fa WED 1 10 Moon May 3 C Last Qtr May 11 6:36 a.m. EDT First Qtr May 25 1:19 p.m. EDT TUE MON 4 A S Full May 3 11:42 p.m. EDT New May 18 12:13 a.m. EDT 3 R 0° SW Moon Phases S UN IB Saturn S turu L NW SE Arc Saturn ES ÖT BO SW CORONA BOREALIS Jupiter C BER VIRG O Hidden in the Sun's glare all month Mars M3 M5 NW Zenith S EN ) RP UT SE AP (C W M12 Venus SUNRISE ▶ Visible April 18 through May 17 M13 MIDNIGHT Mercury NW A M92 SHOWN FOR LATITUDE 40° NORTH AT MID-MONTH ◀ SUNSET S M10 HU UC HI OP Planet Visibility ) UDA (CA gibbous Moon at dusk. Watch the Moon draw closer to it all night. IC4665 NIGHT: Look for Spica to the lower left of the 70 30 HERCU LES Jupiter from 10:01 p.m. to 12:18 a.m. EDT; see page 52. h S 19 S E R P E N 27 NIGHT: A double shadow transit occurs on Facing East NIGHT: Look for Regulus about 5° above the first quarter Moon. R Ve A A 25 D R ga LY R 7 M5 Moon, which sets around midnight. Little ipper S o A NIGHT: Jupiter blazes about 6° north of the URSA MINOR U re bi Al UL A Q U IL 23 EC G A about 9° to the upper right of the waxing crescent Moon. UL P SA ITT EVENING: Look west to spot Venus in Gemini V 7 MORNING: The last quarter Moon is about 3° from 3rd-magnitude Beta (β) Capricorni. 21 De n M 29 N o Cr rthe os rn s MORNING: The Eta Aquariid meteors peak before dawn. The gibbous moon makes observing this shower a challenge. M2 10 M52 E EXACT FOR LATITUDE 40º NORTH. NIGHT: The waning gibbous Moon appears about 5° from Saturn near the head of Scorpius in the southeast. 6 M N nearly full Moon. 39 g NIGHT: Spica gleams less than 6° from the IOPEIA northwest horizon for the next two weeks. Look for it to the lower right of Venus about an hour after sunset. Tonight it's just left of the Pleiades. 4 orth 1 DUSK: Mercury shines high above the west- 22 h Go out within an hour of a time listed to the right. Turn the map around so the yellow label for the direction you're facing is at the bottom. That's the horizon. Above it are the constellations in front of you. The center of the map is overhead. Ignore the parts of the map above horizons you're not facing. MAY 2015 Th Sky at a Glance LU PU S CE NT AU RU S -40° Open cluster Diffuse nebula 1 Globular cluster Planetary nebula Facing