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| This month's star chart
shows the western sky at 9:00 PM on May 4, the night of our star party.
Last month's line of planets marching in a vertical file across the western
sky has now given way to a tighter grouping. All five of the naked-eye
planets are well placed above the western horizon.
Saturn, Mars, and Venus are within about 3 deg of each other in Taurus, and Mercury is about 6 deg to the southeast. Jupiter is higher, sailing along in Gemini, about 45 deg above the horizon. As noted elsewhere in this Newsletter, a comparable grouping will not be seen again for about 70 years. Notice the magnitudes of the planets. And remember, smaller magnitudes are brighter than larger ones, and negative magnitudes are brighter still. Like some other things in astronomy, we have inherited our magnitude scale from the ancients. The brightest stars were said to be first magnitude, the next brightest second magnitude, and so on to sixth magnitude, the dimmest stars ordinarily visible to the unaided human eye. No doubt, we could devise a more rational scale of magnitudes, but for the long standing conservatism of the astronomical community. |
You can print a copy of this star chart so you can take it outside.
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