The Moon stages some especially close encounters with several stars and planets this month. It teams up with Saturn and Mars in the dawn sky, along with Neptune, which is too faint to see with the eye alone. Mercury creeps in there as well, but it’s difficult to spot. The Moon snuggles especially close to Antares, the bright orange heart of the scorpion, near month’s end. The Summer Triangle begins to climb into the evening sky, along with Libra, the balance scales, a lead-in to the prominent summer constellation Scorpius. On the other hand, Leo, the lion, plunges head first toward the southwestern horizon.
The full Moon of May is known as the Milk Moon, Flower Moon, or Corn Moon.
Perigee May 5
Apogee May 17
Moon phases are Central Time.
Mighty Hercules stands high in the east as night falls at this time of year. The constellation’s brightest star represents the entire strongman: Its name, Kornephoros, comes from a Greek word that means “the club bearer” — Hercules himself.
The Moon has a familiar companion the next couple of evenings: Regulus, the heart of Leo, the lion. The bright star stands to the upper left of the Moon tonight, and closer to the right or lower right tomorrow night.
Cygnus, the swan, is a signpost for charting Earth’s path through the galaxy. As you face Cygnus as it rises in the northeast, you’re looking forward in our orbit around the Milky Way. The center of the galaxy is to the right, in Sagittarius.
Hydra, the water snake, wriggles across the southwest this evening. The galaxy M83 is near its tail, low in the south at nightfall. Under dark skies, some people can see the galaxy as a smudge of light. It is the most-distant object visible to the human eye, at about 15 million light-years.
A pretty little semicircle of stars crowns the sky on spring and summer nights: Corona Borealis, the northern crown. It’s high in the east as night falls, and stands overhead a few hours later. In a couple of months, it will be overhead at nightfall.
While the Moon orbits Earth and Earth orbits the Sun, the Sun isn’t exactly standing still. In fact, it’s racing around the center of the Milky Way galaxy, carrying Earth and the other planets with it.
The faint constellation Lynx is in the west and northwest at nightfall. It’s above Pollux and Castor, the twins of Gemini, which are almost due west, and brighter Capella, the leading light of Auriga, the charioteer, to their lower right.
The Moon will be “new” tomorrow as it passes between Earth and Sun, so it will be hidden in the Sun’s glare. And even if the Sun wasn’t in the way, there wouldn’t be much to see. It’s night on the lunar hemisphere that faces our way, so the Moon is dark.
The twins of Gemini are dropping feet-first toward the western horizon as night falls. One of those feet is marked by a small, faint smudge of light: the star cluster M35. It is about 2,500 light-years away and contains about 150 stars.
Vulpecula, the fox, rises in late evening. The constellation is quite faint. Its brightest star — a red giant more than 200 light-years from Earth — is visible to the unaided eye only from a dark location, away from city lights.
