Dining & Nightlife | Astronomy

On May 5th, 1961, one month after Yuri Gagarin achieved the distinction of becoming the first human being to enter space, Alan Shepard Jr. became the first American to venture into the beyond; this happened when his Freedom 7 space capsule reached an altitude of 116 miles in a suborbital flight that lasted 15 minutes. The Soviets ratified a treaty banning nuclear weapons in outer space on May 19th, 1967. On May 15th, 1963, Major Gordon Cooper, the last American to fly in space alone, told the tracking station at Muchea (near Perth, Australia) that he could see a green-colored, glowing object—an “unidentified flying object” or UFO—quickly approaching his Mercury capsule. The object seen by Major Cooper was also detected on the tracking radar at Muchea. Other astronauts have also reported seeing UFOs while on missions in outer space.
The International Sidewalk Astronomy Night comes around again on May 19th. On this night, many amateur astronomers bring their scopes and imaging gear to parks and other public venues. The idea is to enable the non-astronomer or “man in the street” to share in the wonder of our incredible universe.
There is a meteor shower this month: The Eta Aquarids. It is generally a light shower, with about 10 meteors being seen in an hour. As with most showers, best viewing is after midnight. Look for the meteors in the eastern skies just before Moonrise, which takes place on May 5th at 1:28am.
The new Moon falls on the 14th of May and the full Moon on the 27th.
Throughout May, Venus will be very bright in the early evening skies. Look for it in the west just after sunset. Mars will also be in a good position for viewing, especially in the early evening, shortly after dusk. Mars is a wonderful target for a telescope; with a good scope, you may even be able to see the planet’s polar icecaps. Once you have examined Mars, slew over to Saturn. You will see that Saturn’s rings are back! Like Mars, Saturn is most interesting when seen through a telescope. What if you have no scope? Then take advantage of International Sidewalk Astronomy Day and let some enthusiastic amateur astronomer show you the wonders of the night sky!
Finally, we are gaining about 1.8 minutes of daylight with each passing day as we hurl towards summer.