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On May 6th there is a wonderful lineup in the eastern sky about an hour before sunrise. Look for the small crescent Moon, Mercury, Mars, Neptune and Saturn, between the constellations of Pisces and Aquarius. All 3 planets have about the same magnitude, but you may notice the difference in colors. Mars will have a peachy-orange hue, Saturn a pale, honey yellow color and Mercury looking just yellow.
MERCURY - on the 6th, this tiny planet will be just 4° south of the Moon.
VENUS - passes the Sun this month and will not be visible.
EARTH - is gradually overtaking Mars, which occurs about every 2 years & 50 days.
MARS - on the 1st, Neptune is near Mars, only 1.7° apart, with Mars easy to see at magnitude 1.2, but low in the eastern sky. It does sit close to Saturn in the ESE morning sky early in the month.
JUPITER - by the 19th, it also goes behind the Sun and will be there for a few weeks. It will reappear in the June morning sky.
SATURN - passes close to the Moon on both the 3rd & 31st this month, with the Moon about 1° below Saturn on the 31st. It will dim during the month and sadly, the ring system continues to close.
URANUS - is too close to the Sun to see.
NEPTUNE - on the 4th, it will have a triple conjunction with the Moon & Mars. Neptune will have a magnitude of 7.9 and will be just 0.3° north of the Moon. We can find Neptune in the morning sky among the stars of Pisces.
On the 20th, the Moon and Spica will be side by side in the WSW early morning sky, about 3 AM, and just about 10° above the horizon.
May’s full moon is commonly known as the “Flower Moon” as flowers spring forth in abundance this month. Many of the other full moon names originate from Native American culture. The Cree nation have 4 names for the May full moon: “Budding Moon”, “Leaf Budding Moon”, “Egg Laying Moon” and “Frog Moon”. The Ogala people call it the “Moon of the Shedding Ponies” and the Dakota & Lakota nations call it the “Planting Moon”.
The Eta Aquariid meteor shower peaks on May 5th, before sunrise in the eastern sky, with possibly 50 meteors per hour, but more probably only 15-20 per hour as the radiant sits low in the morning sky. However, the southern states enjoy better viewing of this meteor shower, with the Southern Hemisphere being the favored location.
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Ashton Observatory is located in Ashton Wildwood County Park, Jasper County, IA
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