Current Night Sky: May 2019

The Moon & Planets: 

The Eta Aquariid meteors peak on May 6; this year, there is no moonlight to wash out the fainter trails. The shower is more active in the Southern Hemisphere. In mid-northern latitudes, the radiant – the apparent point from which they appear to stream - never gets very high before dawn, but even there, observers under dark skies may see up to 40 meteors per hour. These meteors are interplanetary debris left over from previous passages of Halley's Comet (May 6, 2019, 4:00 am EDT). (Credit: American Meteor Society)

The gibbous Moon joins Saturn, Jupiter, and the tiny asteroid Ceres in the sky in May 20. The Moon, just 2 days past full and 237,000 miles away, lights up the night. Jupiter the second brightest object, is 405 million miles distant, while dimmer Saturn lies 873 million miles away. Ceres, 163 million miles distant, is closer than the giant planets, but its tiny size means it's too faint to be visible to the naked eye; binoculars or a telescope are required to see it at all. (May 20, 2:00 am EDT).

Evening Planets (after sunset): 
  • Mercury, NW
  • Mars, W
Morning Planets (before sunrise): 
  • Jupiter, SW
  • Saturn, S
  • Neptune, SE
  • Venus, E
  • Uranus, E
  • Mercury, E
Comets: 

There are no comets brighter than magnitude 8 currently visible.

Meteors: 

The Eta Aquariid meteors peak on May 6. The waxing crescent Moon sets before 10 pm local time, so its light will not be present to interfere with meteor viewing.

Phases of the Moon: 
New Moon May 4 6:46 pm EST
First Quarter Moon May 11 9:12 pm EDT
Full Moon May 18 5:11 pm EDT
Last Quarter Moon May 26 12:34 pm EDT

Text, graphics, and animations by John Sheff. Graphics courtesy of Starry Night(©) Pro Plus 7 / Imaginova(©) Corp. Starry Night images are used with permission from Imaginova Corp. Starry Night is a registered trademark of Imaginova Corp. Star charts generated by Starry Night Pro Plus 7 © Imaginova Corp. All rights reserved. www.StarryNight.com