Current Events In The Sky

May starts off with a great appearance of Mercury well placed after sunset by mid May. Mars is still well placed in the evening sky and will move from Gemini into Cancer passing by the open star cluster known as Messier 44 or the Beehive. Saturn is also still well placed in the nighttime sky followed by Jupiter shortly after midnight.

Comet Boattini can be seen in the southern part of the sky after sunset although you will need some kind of optical aid to spot it. The comet will continue to move to the southwest and by mid June should be bright enough to see it with the naked eye. However, it will be just barely visible so aid will help.

The Eta Aquarid meteor shower peaks on the morning of May 5th and occurs during the new moon so viewing of this shower could be good. This shower is caused when Earth passes through the remains of what Halley comet leaves behind. The shower usually produces about 30 meteors per hour but there can be a bust just before sunrise since the shower has a 12 year cycle which falls somewhere between 2008 and 2010.