If you are outside around 1am on the morning of Tuesday 14th, a 35%-lit waxing crescent Moon will be setting towards the western horizon.  Just below and to the left of the Moon you will find a nice target for your telescope that I have mentioned before - the Beehive open cluster of stars, also known as M44 in the Charles Messier catalogue.

It's also a week for spotting those curious clair-obscur visual effects on the lunar surface, starting with the "Lunar X and V" around 4pm on Wednesday 15th.  The Moon will have risen about the horizon towards the east and even though it will be daylight, the moon should be visible, with the "X and V" on the terminator, where sunlight just illuminates the lunar surface.

Early Friday morning 17th, around 2am, is the optimum time to observe the clair-obscur effect known as "Plato's Hook" in the crater Plato.  A slightly gibbous Moon will be setting towards the west.

Finally, May is the start of the noctilucent cloud season.  These night-shining clouds are caused by sunlight reflecting off water ice crystals in the upper atmosphere at twilight.  They are too faint to be observed in daylight.

I am just going to concentrate on one observing opportunity this time - before dawn on Monday 6th could be a very rewarding time to make an early start!  The constellation of Aquarius will just be rising above the east south east horizon from 4am and we have the peak of the Eta Aquariid meteor shower.  Just below the radiant point of the shower, Saturn will be poking its head up above the horizon if you have an unobstructed view in that direction.

At 4.17am, if you turn your gaze towards the west, the International Space Station should appear.  It will look like a bright star that is moving silently and the ISS will pass almost directly overhead, before disappearing 7 minutes later in the vicinity of the meteor shower's radiant point.  How cool is that!

Saturn will have a magnitude of around +1.07 so should be fairly easy to spot.  The ISS at that point will have a magnitude of approximately -1.31 or in other words, you won't be able to miss it!

If you delay heading back indoors for breakfast, Mars will then pop up above the eastern horizon and from around 5am, a very thin crescent Moon makes an appearance in the same direction.

Although Mars will have a magnitude around +1.2 it will be much harder to spot against the dawn sky.  The Sun will be rising shortly afterwards, which prompts me to give my usual warning about not taking the risk of using your telescope or binoculars, in case you accidentally catch a glimpse of it in the eyepiece.

First of all, something for the early risers!  From 4.30am on the morning of Wednesday 1st May, a quarter Moon will be just rising above the south east horizon.  This is an optimum time to observe one of the lesser-known clair-obscur visual effects on the lunar surface called "The Cutlass" because of its obvious sword-like shape.

At 2am on the morning of Friday 3rd, the famous "Globular Cluster in Hercules" reaches its highest point in the sky - this is the best time to observe the cluster as light from its hundreds of thousands of stars will be passing through less of our atmosphere.  Remember it is distortion created by our atmosphere that makes stars appear to twinkle and so the higher the angle, the better.

The constellation of Hercules will be located high in the sky towards the south east and the cluster, also known as M13 in the Charles Messier Catalogue can be found roughly halfway between the bright stars Vega in Lyra and Arcturus in Bootes. It is just to the right of the asterism (or shape) referred to as "The Keystone" in Hercules.

Finally, there are a couple of excellent opportunities to spot the International Space Station during the coming week; Tuesday 30th April at 4.24am and Friday 3rd May at 3.35am.  In both cases, the ISS will appear towards the west and pass almost directly overhead.

Screenshots courtesy of Stellarium

Copyright Adrian Dening and Radio Ninesprings 2024