In the Sky This Month

Mars stands near the Moon the next couple of mornings. The planet looks like a fairly bright orange star. It is to the left of the Moon at first light tomorrow and a bit closer above the Moon on Friday.

The planet Saturn stands to the upper right of the Moon at first light tomorrow. It looks like a bright star. The even brighter planet Jupiter is to the right of Saturn, with Mars well to the left of the Moon.

Jupiter, the largest planet in the solar system, rises quite close to the Moon in the wee hours of the morning and is above the Moon at first light. It looks like a brilliant star. The planet Saturn is nearby.

Three planets align to the left of the Moon at first light tomorrow. The brightest of the three is Jupiter. Saturn stands close to the left of Jupiter, with orange Mars to their lower left. The Moon will move past them over the next few mornings.

The north galactic pole is in Coma Berenices, which is high in the sky at nightfall, above the bright yellow-orange star Arcturus. It is high above the Milky Way Galaxy’s starry disk, so it provides a good view of galaxies beyond the Milky Way.

The bright star Antares rises to the right of the Moon late this evening. Antares is at least 15 times as massive as the Sun, hundreds of times wider, and tens of thousands of times brighter. It will end its life by blasting itself to bits as a supernova.

Sirius, the Dog Star, is vanishing in the evening twilight. It is in the southwest as night falls and sets about two hours after the Sun. The night sky’s brightest star is so low that buildings or trees along the horizon may block it from view.

The Moon is full tonight as it lines up opposite the Sun in our sky. The full Moon of May is known as the Milk Moon, Corn Moon, or Flower Moon. The exact time of the full Moon is 5:45 a.m. CDT tomorrow.

The two brightest objects in the night bracket the sky as darkness falls this evening. The almost-full Moon is in the southeast, with Venus, the Evening Star, setting halfway around the sky, in the west-northwest.

Mercury is in superior conjunction, passing behind the Sun as seen from Earth. The Sun’s closest planet will climb into view in the western evening sky in a couple of weeks, near Venus, the dazzling Evening Star.