Sunday, May 23
Rising after Cygnus this evening is a dim constellation you might not be familiar with: Lacerta the Lizard. You can find it south of Cepheus the King and about 20° to the east of Deneb in neighboring Cygnus the Swan.
This small star figure contains a diamond-shaped head that includes both its alpha and beta stars, which are magnitude 3.8 and 4.4, respectively. The tip of its tail is 4th-magnitude 1 Lacertae. Although Lacerta has no Messier objects, it is home to magnitude 6.4 NGC 7243, an open cluster about 2.6° west of Alpha (α) Lacertae. The Lizard also contains the famous active galaxy BL Lacertae. This highly variable object is actually the bright disk of material swirling around a supermassive black hole deep within the galaxy’s center. The disk flares and dims as the material within it moves, changes, and even disappears into the black hole. Although BL Lac is faint (it ranges from magnitude 14 to 17), experienced observers with large amateur scopes or good astrophotography skills can capture it.
Saturn is stationary at 4 P.M. EDT, ending its motion southeastward toward Theta [θ] Capricorni and swinging around to move southwest, away from the star. We’ll take a look at the ringed planet in another few days.
Sunrise: 5:38 A.M.
Sunset: 8:16 P.M.
Moonrise: 5:03 P.M.
Moonset: 3:59 A.M.
Moon Phase: Waxing gibbous (89%)
Monday, May 24
The wee hours of the morning are the perfect time to peer toward the center of our Milky Way, located in the constellation Sagittarius. Look south to identify the Teapot asterism, which appears upright with its spout facing west around 1 A.M. local time. It’s made up of several stars: Zeta (ζ), Tau (Ï„), Sigma (σ), and Phi (Ï•) Sagittarii form the handle; Phi, Lambda (λ), and Delta (δ) Sagittarii form the top; Delta, Gamma (γ), and Epsilon (ϵ) Sagittarii form the spout; and Epsilon, Zeta, Phi, and Delta create the body.
Farther west (to the Teapot’s right) is Scorpius the Scorpion, whose long tail curves toward the horizon. This region is home to numerous open and globular star clusters, although they’ll be a bit challenging to survey this morning, thanks to the low altitude and waxing Moon nearby in Virgo. But even with our satellite’s bright light saturating the sky, you should still easily spot the constellation’s brightest star, magnitude 1 Antares, glowing a deep orange-red.
Sunrise: 5:38 A.M.
Sunset: 8:17 P.M.
Moonrise: 6:19 P.M.
Moonset: 4:28 A.M.
Moon Phase: Waxing gibbous (95%)
Tuesday, May 25
Saturn’s moon Iapetus reaches greatest eastern elongation today. You can find it 8.3′ east of Saturn, which sits 40′ from Theta Capricorni this morning. The ringed planet glows a bit fainter than 1st magnitude and is easily visible to the naked eye; to spot its moons, however, you’ll want a small telescope. Iapetus is currently around magnitude 12; if that’s too challenging, 10th-magnitude Tethys, Rhea, and Dione lie closer to the rings, while magnitude 8.4 Titan, Saturn’s largest moon, sits a bit less than 2′ west-southwest of the planet.
Nearby in Aquarius, Jupiter’s moons are also putting on a show. Around 4:30 A.M. EDT, Io’s shadow slips onto the eastern edge of Jupiter’s disk. The moon itself sits farther east, while Ganymede is roughly equidistant to the planet’s west. Io follows its shadow onto the planet around 5:50 A.M. EDT — after sunrise on the U.S. East Coast, but within twilight for the rest of the country. Follow Io’s trek as long as you can, taking care to stop observing before sunrise by setting an alarm to go off at least several minutes before the Sun is scheduled to peek above the horizon.
The Moon reaches perigee, the closest point in its orbit around Earth to our planet, at 9:50 P.M. EDT tonight. At that time, it will sit a mere 222,023 miles (357,311 kilometers) away.
Sunrise: 5:37 A.M.
Sunset: 8:18 P.M.
Moonrise: 7:39 P.M.
Moonset: 5:02 A.M.
Moon Phase: Waxing gibbous (99%)
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