Translate this page ►►
Manchester Astronomical Society
Established 1903
Manastro Journal for May
The Godlee Observatory is now OPEN! Why not join us on Thursday evenings 7 - 9pm.
In the Sky for the next few weeks (images taken at 10pm on 15th May)
North
East
South
West
The Moon
New Moon on 30th
1st Quarter on the 9th
Full Moon on 16th
3rd Quarter on the 22nd
On the 16th May, there will be a total eclipse of the moon, starting at 02:32 in Manchester, with totality at 04:29 till 05:53 (max 05:10). The 'parital' eclipse will end 06:55, but the moon wil set at 05:10, so you'll have to be in a high place to spot it all.
Planet(s) of the month: Jupiter (with Venus & Mars)
In early May, Jupiter will have some close conjuctions with both Mars & Venus, with the moon making a gusest appearance around 25th May with the conjuction of Jupiter & Mars.
On 1st May, Jupiter will appear 22 arcminutes away from Venus, looking low in the east from about 05:00 BST (as shown)
Image: Sky Safari
On 25th May, Jupiter will appear low in the eastern sky 2.5 degrees apart, with the moon appearing approx 4 degrees below.
Image: Sky Safari
Constellation of the Month: Crater (shown 15th May 22:00)
This month we look at a rarely looked at constelation 'Crater'
Crater constellation ('The Cup' in Latin for obvious reasons) lies low in the southern sky and is only the 53rd largest constellation in the sky.
Crater is relatively faint, with no stars brighter than fourth magnitude. There are also few notable deep sky objects in the constellation. Most galaxies found in Crater are magnitude 12 or fainter. One of these, the Crater 2 dwarf galaxy, is the fourth largest dwarf galaxy orbiting the Milky Way, but it went undetected until April 2016 because it is also one of the lowest surface brightness dwarfs.
Occupying an area of 282 square degrees. It is located in the second quadrant of the southern hemisphere (SQ2) and can be seen at latitudes between +65° and -90°. The neighboring constellations are Corvus, Hydra, Leo, Sextans, and Virgo.
Deep sky objects within Crater include, NGC3887 barred spiral galaxy, NGC3511 and NGC 3981, both spiral galaxies. Also Crater 2 dwarf galaxy, which is teh 4th largest dwarf galaxy orbiting the Milky Way.
NGC3981 © ESO
NGC3887 © ESA/Hubble & NASA, P. Erwin et al.
Meteor Showers
Eta Aquirids - 19th April - 28th May (Peak 6th May) - ZHR 50
MAS Society & MAS Facebook members' recent images
Here is a selection of some of the recent images from our members, ther are far mor excelent pictures on our Facebook page & in the images section of this website, check them out.
Horsehead Nebula © Alan Griffiths - 11/04/22
Lunar 'X' © Sonia Turkinton - 09/04/22
M82 © Bob Stuart - 05/04/22
Sun © Kevin Kilburn 20/04/22
M51 © Jon Weidner 03/04/22
