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The Sharpless Catalog

Current Events In The Sky

Below you will find what the current phase of the moon is and information on the sun and moon.  Also, the current events in the sky for the month can be viewed.

Enter new date and hour to change lunar and solar information

Date  Hour     

 


Current Moon Phase:
Image from USNO website
courtesy USNO

Lunar Information

Constellation Virgo
Earth Distance 247,105 Miles
Angular Size 30.22 Min. of Arc
Phase 90.97%
RA Position 13hr 25min
DEC Position -14° 11'
Moonrise 5:28 PM
Moonset 3:39 AM
Solar Information

Constellation Taurus
Earth Distance 94,065,163 Miles
Angular Size 31.64 Minutes of Arc
RA Position 3hr 27min
DEC Position 19° 25'
Sunrise 5:25 AM
Sunset 7:16 PM

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.

Up Coming Sky Events

All times in Universal Time.  To convert to your Local Standard Time:

Then add one hour if using Daylight Savings Time.

DateTime (UT)Event
5/20/200802:11Full Moon
5/20/200814:27Moon at Apogee
5/20/200823:00Moon passes 0.2 degree south of Antares
5/24/200811:00Moon passes 2 degrees south of Jupiter
5/27/200803:00Moon passes 0.6 degrees north of Neptune
5/28/200802:57Last Quarter Moon
5/29/200809:00Moon passes 4 degree north of Uranus