There will be a close approach of the Moon and Saturn tonight and tomorrow. At sunset on the 9th the pair will be separated by less than 7° and found well up in the eastern sky. As the night progresses the pair will slowly close the gap. As the pair sets around 03:30 the morning of the 10th, the separation will have been reduced to about 4°. As the two rise on the evening of the 10th they will have passed and the separation will be increasing. At sunset the pair will be 7° apart.
Viewers on the other side of our planet will be able to observe the closest approach, much less than a degree for many, an occultation if you happen to be in the right place. Sky watchers in Capetown, South Africa will see the planet disappear behind the limb of the Moon for about an hour around 19:11UT.
This evening the Moon and Jupiter will be close. The two will be visible in the sky throughout the day becoming a striking pair as the sky grows dark. The Moon will be 11% illuminated and about 6° from the bright planet at sunset.
Mercury should be visible 18° below Jupiter, a 1.3 magnitude object lower in the sunset glow.
A very young moon over Waikoloa, this is only 26 hours after new, visible to the unaided eye as a sliver in the fading glow of sunsetNew Moon will occur today at 08:40HST.
Today Mercury reaches maximum elongation, the furthest point it will reach from the Sun in our sky and the highest it will be above the sunset for this evening apparition. The planet is easily visible as a bright, starlike object about 23° above the setting Sun as twilight begins. Over the next couple weeks Mercury will slide back into the sunset, heading for inferior conjunction on June 19th.
Tomorrow morning, May 25th, will see a brilliant Venus paired with a crescent Moon. Look for the pair to rise about 03:30HST to be 30° above the horizon at sunrise. A 10% illuminated Moon will be a nice match for Venus shining brilliantly at -4.0 magnitude. Separation will be just over 2°.
A reminder that there is the possibility of a strong meteor shower this evening. The Earth may pass through a cloud of debris left by comet 209P/LINEAR. Sky watchers should observe around 21:00 to 22:00HST on the evening of May 23rd.
A pair of Leonid meteors streak through OrionNorth America and the North Pacific is favored for visibility. If it occurs the peak will be short and sweet, lasting about an hour. Fortunately for us in the islands this is predicted for mid-evening hours, from 7-8UT on the 24th (21-22HST on the 23rd). Predictions for the shower range from minor to spectacular. The meteors will seem to radiate from a part of the sky occupied by the dim constellation Camelopardalis, thus some are dubbing this shower the Camelopardalids.
For Hawai’i the radiant will be low in the north, about 20 degrees above the horizon, near Polaris. This means that any meteors we see will be hitting the atmosphere at a low angle. Combined with the low speed of the meteors this could lead to very showy bolides streaking across much of the sky.
As with any meteor shower, any predictions are to be taken with a large dose of skepticism. It is important to point out that meteor prediction is not an exact science, rather a bit of an art form. In this case there are any number of unknowns involved, we could see nothing, we could see a true meteor storm. This event could be anything from “meh” to “oh wow!!!”. To their credit, the folks making these predictions have been impressively right on several recent showers.
I would strongly suggest that you at least take an effort to step outside after 9pm on Friday evening and see what the sky has to offer. All you need is a clear dark sky.
Over the next few days Venus will swing quite close to Uranus. Today the pair is separated by 2°48′. This will decrease to 1°15′ on the 15th for the closest approach.
Much like the Venus and Neptune pair we saw last month, the pair is quite a mismatch… Uranus is a mere 5.1 magnitude while Venus is a brilliant -4.0. There will be two 4th magnitude stars to the north of the pair, δPsc and εPsc, but these will be about 4° away from Venus and should be easy to distinguish. Look for Neptune betwixt Venus and the stars.
Tonight the planet Saturn will be quite close to the Moon. The pair will rise about 18:20 HST and be well up in the east in the late evening. Look for 0.1 magnitude object just north of the Moon, there are no nearby stars bright enough to confuse for the planet. The Moon is full at 09:16HST tomorrow, just short of full for tonight’s pairing.
Observers in the islands will see the Moon pass less than 1° south of the planet during the early morning hours of the 14th. Observers in the southern hemisphere will be able to view an occultation if at the correct latitude, check a planetarium program for the view from your location.
