Astronomy in the Four Corners

Basic Information for Amateur Astronomers in the Four Corners Area.

The main purpose of this site is to give some basic information on what's "up" to view in the night sky. This will include such items as:

• This Month
• The Moon
• The Planets
• Bright Deep Sky Objects
• The Messier List
• It Happened this Month in Astronomy

As well as these links to various astronomy oriented sites.

Adventures in Deep Space

Hubble Images

The Internet's Virtual Telescope

Watch the Space Station Fly Over

Spacecraft That Never Flew!

Comet Observation Page

Some Tips on the Links listed above

Sky & Telescope's web site now requires cookies. If you are like me and have turned off cookies, you will have to turn them back on again to access this site.

When at the Internet's Virtual Telescope, enter an NGC number or an M number or the RA & DEC numbers of the object you want to view into the box under "Required Parameters" and select the type of survey from the boxes. ( I usually use the Digitized Sky Survey but feel free to play around with the different surveys.)

The "Cedar and Stars" web site is not astronomical. It is Dani's web site and has many of her drawings there to view as well as links to her Elfwood page and others. Hope you enjoy her amazing artwork.

                     

If you are using Microsoft's Internet Explorer, hold your cursor over the picture for a description. For more information about the object and/or picture, visit the Astronomy Picture Of the Day web site by clicking on the link above.

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For the Month of May 2011

The Eta Aquarid Meteor Shower peaks on the night of the 6th.

The four brightest moons of Saturn will line up on the night of May 22. This will make it easier to locate the fainter moon Enceladus.

Venus will be 0.6 degrees south of Jupiter on the 11th. They will not be this close to each other again until August 2014.

The Moon

The First Quarter Moon will be on the 10th.

The Second Quarter (full) Moon will be on the 17th.

The Third Quarter Moon will be on the 24th.

The Moon will be at Apogee (farthest from the Earth) on the 27th.

The Moon will be at Perigee (closest to the Earth) on the 15th.

Mercury will be 8 degrees south of the Moon on the 1st.

Venus will be 4 degrees south of the Moon on the 30th.

Mars will be 4 degrees south of the Moon on the 30th.

Jupiter will be 6 degrees south of the Moon on the 1st and again on the 29th.

Saturn will be 8 degrees north of the Moon on the 14th.

The Moon will be 6 degrees north of Uranus on the 27th.

The Moon will be 5 degrees north of Neptune on the 24th.

The Naked-Eye Planets

Mercury is low in the east at sunrise.

• Mercury will be 8 degrees south of the Moon on the 1st.
• Mercury will be 2 degrees south of Jupiter on the 10th.
• Mercury will be 2 degrees south of Mars on the 19th.
• Mercury will be at its greatest western elongation (27 degrees) on the 7th.

Venus is in the east at sunrise.

• Venus will be 4 degrees south of the Moon on the 30th.
• Venus will be 1.1 degrees south of Mars on the 22nd.
• Venus will be 0.6 degrees south of Jupiter on the 11th at 5am EDT.

Mars is in the east at sunrise.

• Mars will be 6 degrees south of the Moon on the 1st and 4 degrees south of the Moon on the 30th.
• Mars will be 0.4 degrees south of Jupiter on the 1st.
• Mars will be 1.1 degree north of Venus on the 22nd.
• Mars will be 2 degrees north of Mercury on the 19th.

Jupiter is in the east at sunrise.

• Jupiter will be 6 degrees south of the Moon on the 1st and again on the 29th.
• Jupiter will be 2 degrees north of Mercury on the 10th.
• Jupiter will be 0.4 degrees south of Mars on the 1st.
• Jupiter will be 0.6 degrees north of Venus on the 11th.

Saturn is in the southeast at sunset.

• Saturn will be 8 degrees north of the Moon on the 14th.
• Saturn's four brightest moons will line up on the night of May 22.

The Outer (telescope only) Planets

Uranus is in the east at sunrise.

• Uranus will be 6 degrees south of the Moon on the 27th.

Neptune rises around 3am and is in the constellation Aquarius.

• Neptune will be 6 degrees south of the Moon on the 24th.
• Neptune will complete its first orbit since its discovery in 1847 by German astronomer Johann Galle. It takes the planet 164 years to complete one orbit around the sun.

Pluto is in northern Sagittarius and should rise around midnight. See the finder chart on page 51 of the May Astronomy Magazine for more information on locating this planet.

For more information about the paths of these planets, and finder charts, visit the Sky & Telescope or Astronomy websites by using the links above.

Bright Deep Sky Objects

The Orion Nebula (M-42) is a great object to view in almost any telescope.Its visible naked eye below the middle belt star.

The Double Cluster (NGC 869 & NGC 884) in Perseus is always a nice object for any scope and is visible naked eye (its that fuzzy blob between Perseus and Cassiopia).

The Beehive Cluster (M-44) is a nice open cluster that can be viewed in any scope. It is located between the rectangle of Gemini and the sickle of Leo. It appears as a fuzzy patch of light to the naked eye.

The Hercules Cluster (M-13) is visible with binoculars and is a great view in any telescope! It is a globular star cluster with an estimated 500,000 stars and is located between the two bright stars that make up the western half of the keystone in the constellation Hercules.

The Summer Milky Way is rising after midnight. There are many bright deep sky objects in the summer Milky Way that are visible naked eye and with any size telescope. Many of the objects on the Messier List are located here.

The Andromeda Galaxy (M-31) is the most distant object visible to the naked eye at 2.2 million light years. It is located above and to the left (north-east) of the Great Square of Pegasus.

Summer is a great time to observe Messier Objects.

( Have you bagged any deep sky objects lately? )

Don't Forget to Visit the Observatory at Chaco Canyon !

E-Mail me with questions, comments, or corrections by clicking here.

This site has been on the web since February 11th, 2001

Last updated: May 7, 2011