Full Moon
The Moon is full at 11:56 a.m. CDT today as it lines up opposite the Sun in our sky. Among other names, the full Moon of May is known as the Grain Moon or Green Corn Moon.
Moon in Balance
The full Moon achieves a sort of celestial balance tonight. It’s passing across Libra, the balance scales, which are a symbol of justice. But the proper names of the constellation’s brightest mean “the claws”-of nearby Scorpius, the scorpion.
The Herdsman
The constellation Bootes, the herdsman, is high in the east as darkness falls. Find it by picking out its brightest star, yellow-orange Arcturus, which is the second-brightest star in northern skies.
Moon and Spica
The star Spica, which is close to the Moon tonight, is quite different from the Sun. It consists of two stars, both of which are many times bigger and heavier than the Sun. Their surfaces are tens of thousands of degrees hotter than the Sun’s, so the stars shine blue white.
Spring Semicircle
The Big Dipper hangs high in the north as darkness falls. It is upside down, with the stars of the handle to the right of the bowl. If you extend the handle’s arc, you loop to the bright stars Arcturus and Spica, forming a giant semicircle.
Vanishing Orion
Orion is low in the west as night falls. Depending on your location, its brightest star, Rigel, might already have set. But Orion’s three-star belt is in view, parallel to the horizon. Bright Betelgeuse is above the belt, still in view at nightfall.
Windy Planet
Sextans, the sextant, is close to the lower right of the Moon at nightfall. The faint constellation includes a Sun-like star, WASP-127, that hosts a puffy planet with the fastest winds ever recorded on any planet. The system is about 500 light-years away.
Moon and Regulus
Regulus, the bright heart of the lion, will stand quite close to the Moon at nightfall this evening, and a bit farther from the Moon as they set in the wee hours of the morning. Although it loses some luster in the lunar glare, the star is still a beautiful sight.
Eta Aquarid Meteors
The Eta Aquarid meteor shower should reach its peak tomorrow night, with top rates of about 40 or 50 meteors per hour. The best view comes in the wee hours of the morning. The Moon will be out of the way then, making it easier to see the “shooting stars.”
Moon, Mars, and Beehive
The Moon and Mars are sneaking up on the Beehive. The star cluster is close to the lower left of the Moon at nightfall and is an easy target for binoculars. Mars looks like an orange star below the Moon. It will slip past the cluster over the next couple of days.