Special to CosmicTribune.com, May 27, 2024

Excerpts from weekly Sky&Telescope report.

MONDAY, MAY 27

■ With the Moon gone from the evening sky, can you see the big, dim Coma Berenices star cluster? Does your light pollution really hide it, or do you just not know exactly where to look? It’s southwest of the zenith these evenings, 2/5 of the way from Denebola (the tip of Leo’s tail) to the end of the Big Dipper’s handle (the tip of Ursa Major’s tail). Its brightest members form an inverted Y. The entire cluster is about 4° or 5° wide — a big, dim glow in a fairly dark sky. It nearly fills a binocular view.

TUESDAY, MAY 28

■ Have you ever seen Alpha Centauri? At declination –61° our brilliant, magnitude-zero neighbor is permanently out of sight if you’re north of latitude 29°. But if you’re at the latitude of San Antonio, Orlando, or points south, Alpha Cen skims just above your south horizon for a little while late these evenings.

WEDNESDAY, MAY 29

■ The last-quarter Moon rises late tonight, around 1 or 2 a.m. daylight-saving time. By dawn on Thursday May 30th the Moon is high in the southeast, with Saturn hardly more than a fist-width to its left, as shown below. (Exact last-quarter phase is at 1:13 p.m. Thursday afternoon EDT.)

The nearest and farthest naked-eye objects in the solar system now shine together, nearly in line with us 1.3 light-seconds and 82 light-minutes away.

And Fomalhaut? 25 light-years in the background.

THURSDAY, MAY 30

■ For much of the spring at mid-northern latitudes, the Milky Way lies right down out of sight all around the horizon. But watch the east now. The rich Cepheus-Cygnus-Aquila stretch of the Milky Way starts rising up all across the east late these nights, earlier and higher every week. A hint for the light-polluted: It runs horizontally under Vega, along the bottom of the Summer Triangle.

FRIDAY, MAY 31

■ Vega is the brightest star on the northeastern side of the sky. Arcturus is the brightest high overhead. A third of the way from Arcturus to Vega is dim Corona Borealis, the semicircular Northern Crown. Its one moderately bright star is Alpha Cor Bor, a.k.a. Gemma or Alphecca, magnitude 2.2. But within the next year or so, astronomers expect there may suddenly be two! Because T Coronae Borealis, a famous recurrent nova, shows signs (a gradual dimming) of being about to blow again for its first time since 1946. If it does, if could match the brightness of Alphecca.

Normally T CrB simmers along uneasily at about 10th magnitude. Its explosive rise may take only about a day.

SATURDAY, JUNE 1

■ Constellations seem to twist around fast when they pass your zenith — if you’re comparing them to the direction “down.” Just a week and a half ago, the Big Dipper floated horizontally in late twilight an hour after sunset (as seen from 40° north latitude). Now it’s angled diagonally at that time. In just another week and a half it will be hanging straight down by its handle!

The farther north you are, the quicker the Dipper seems to gyrate. If, that is, you can judge your zenith point accurately enough to make “up” and “down” meaningful that close to it.

SUNDAY, JUNE 2

■ To many people, “Cassiopeia” means “Cold.” Late fall and winter are when this landmark constellation stands high overhead. But even on hot June evenings, it still lurks low (as seen from mid-northern latitudes). As twilight fades out, look for it down near the north horizon: a wide, upright W. The farther north you are the higher it’ll appear, but even as far south as San Diego and Atlanta it’s completely above the horizon.

  May 27 – June 2, The Sky