[Friends_of_SSASTROS] Are You Waking Up Tomorrow...

[Mike McCabe]

 Good Sunday Morning, Astro Peeps,
So as expected the sky didn't really cooperate around here for seeing the morning 'smiley face' in the east before dawn on Friday morning. Rose Amaral shared a Facebook post made by T.J. Del Santo of WPRI in RI where it was somewhat visible over the Narragansett Bay, and today I was on Cloudy Nights and a fellow from Tuscon Arizona submitted his sketch of the scene for the April sketching contest. 




There are no super-special sky events coming up in the near future, but there always seems to be a conjunction or two, an occultation or two, or perhaps even lately an auroral display that comes along to entertain us.
Be sure to get out there on the evening of May 3rd to witness the Lunar/Planetary/Star party going on high in the western sky, as on that night the Moon, Mars, and the Beehive cluster will be gathering for a celestial ball in the cosmos.

The Moon will be near 1st quarter, so will impact the contrast of the Beehive. Still, if the sky is clear the stars will be decently vivid. M44 is one of the brightest open clusters in the night sky.

For the casual observer the tool of choice will be a pair of binoculars, but this could also be an attractive grouping for our intrepid astrophotographers in the group. The big challenge here will be rendering the stars without blowing out the Moon. I can't tell you how it's done, but I know it can be because I've seen examples of it in the past..

For our lunar conjunction fans, the Moon will pass about a degree below the bright star Antares in Scorpius on the morning of May 14th. This could be a fun telescopic view using a low power/widefield eyepiece. Somewhere north of a 1.5° true field should do the trick.
Finally, the Eta Aquarids meteor shower is active now and peaks on the 6/7 of May. I saw what I think was a spectacular Lyrid back on the 20th of this month, just by being out there and gazing aimlessly around the sky. Tomorrow night is supposed to be clear and will also be moonless, so might be good time to just sit outside looking up. You just might catch some Aquarids.
Now I'll turn the baton over to Vernon, who with the assistance of his Sky Guide program will surely come up with some attractive lunar occultations for us to experience.
Sincerely,
Mike M.
   



  
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