North Wales Astronomy night sky notes May 2022

With spring advancing rapidly towards summer, the nights become ever shorter. At more northerly latitudes in the British Isles, twilight prevails throughout the night from late May onwards and truly dark skies will not be found again until late July, dusk finally arrives, around 10pm (22h) BST on a late May evening.

The planets

Mercury starts the month as an evening object just after sunset. On the evening of the 1st a very slender crescent moon will be 10 degrees Mercury. From the 2nd until the 21st when returns to the morning sky.

Venus is in Pisces in the early morning sky but its moving closer to the Sun so lost the the morning twilight. On the morning of the 1st Venus rises close to Jupiter but they are extremely low down.

Mars rises earlier than Venus at 3.10am and moves from Aquarius into Pisces also in the early sky. On the 28th till the 31st Mars will be close to Jupiter.

Jupiter is also in Pisces rises the same time as Mars and Venus, Saturn rises around 2.40am in early May in Capricornus.

The Moon

First quarter 9th Full moon and eclipse 16th Last quarter 22nd

The total lunar eclipse will be in the early morning of the 16th the sky will be already getting light for all stages of the eclipse. The moon enters the penumbra at 2.30am BST and the umbra will be at 3.40am BST sadly the moon sets around 4am BST with the moon only half red and the total full moon will be at 4.30am with the moon below the horizon. The moon will be low down on the southwest.

The Constellations

To the east of the sky, some of the constellations more usually associated with summer are beginning to show in the early evening. Early summer is prime time for the constellation Hercules with several notable deep sky objects. The most famous within its borders is the great globular cluster M13. At 6th magnitude it is the brightest globular cluster in the Northern Hemisphere packing more than a million stars into a region 160 light years in diameter. Binoculars show a hazy spot with a bright core but a 150mm aperture telescope at 200x magnification resolves M13 into a ball of stars.

The night sky at 10pm – midnight

Looking east we have Cygnus, Lyra, Hercules, and Corona Borealis,

Looking s-east we have Bootes, and Libra low down.

Looking south we have Virgo, and Coma Berenices.

Looking s west we have Leo, Leo Minor and The Plough.

Looking west we have Cancer Gemini and The Lynx.

Looking north we have Auriga, Perseus, and Cassiopeia.

Eta Aquarids meteor shower in the constellation of Aquarius activity 24th April to 20th May approximate maximum falls on 5th of May when up to 35 fast often with persistent trains. But a dark sight will be required. Also, Aquarius is extremely low down in the east 4am. This shower is from the parent body of Halley’s comet.

Events during the month.

Monday 2nd Mercury is 1 degree north of the moon at 14,17.

Thursday 5th Eta Aquarid meteor shower maximum 8am.

Monday 16th total eclipse of the moon 4.11am.

Tuesday 17th Mars is 0.6 degrees south of Neptune 23.00.

Saturday 21st Mercury is at inferior conjunction 19.00.

Sunday 22nd Saturn is 4 degrees north of the moon 5am.

Tuesday 24th Neptune is 4 degrees north of the moon 10am.Also Mars is 3 degrees north of the moon 19.00.

Wednesday 25th Jupiter is 3 degrees north of the moon midnight.

Sunday 29th Mars is 0.6 degrees south of Jupiter.