May sky map.

Life is full of trade-offs, and stargazing is no different.

For sure, spring nights are warmer, but you have to stay up much later to set off on your astronomical adventures.

I think it’s worth the wait, although, to be brutally honest, spring stargazing isn’t quite as thrilling as winter. What’s left of most of the exciting bright winter constellations sink below the western horizon shortly after sunset, not to be seen again in the evening until late next autumn.

From May until about mid-June, the Butler evening sky is in a bit of an intermission between the bright stars and constellations of winter and most of the great summer shiners.

Don’t get me wrong though. There are still many magnificent jewels to see in the May night sky. You just have to dig a little deeper for them.

In early May, you can barely spot the great constellation Orion the Hunter leaning to the right in the low western sky.

Just above and to the right of the sinking celestial hunter is the brightest starlike object in the evening sky this month. It’s the mighty planet Jupiter. Since December, it’s been a great telescope target, but those nights are just about over for now as the distance between Earth and Jupiter continues to increase. You may see up to four of Jupiter’s biggest and brightest moons, along with some brighter cloud bands and possibly the great red spot, depending on when you catch Jupiter in its rapid rotation.

Unfortunately, the view through the eyepiece will be fuzzy because it’s caught in the blurring effect of the Earth’s thicker atmospheric layer near the horizon. By the end of May, both Orion and Jupiter will have already set by the end of twilight.

A little higher up in the western sky this month is a much visually diminished Mars, perched to the upper left of the constellation Gemini the Twins. In January, Mars was just under 60 million miles away, but now the distance has ballooned to over 140 million. Through even a large telescope, it’ll be extremely difficult to see any surface features on Mars. About all you’ll see will be an orange-red dot.

Despite that, Mars still will put on a nice show. On May 3, the near first quarter moon will be in a tight hug with Mars, just to its upper right. On May 4 and 5, Mars will pass across the northern edge of the Beehive star cluster, which is over 600 light-years away. That’ll be best seen with even a small telescope or binoculars. Don’t miss that!

After evening twilight in the high south-southwestern sky, you can see the lead spring constellation, Leo the Lion. It’s bright and one of the few constellations that actually resembles what it’s supposed to be.

The right side of Leo resembles a distinctive backward question mark, but with not too much imagination, you can certainly see how it would also depict the profile of a lion’s head and chest. Leo’s brightest star, Regulus, marks the period at the bottom of the question mark and the heart of the supersized feline. On the left side of Leo a triangle of three moderately bright stars outlines the giant Lion’s derriere and tail

Facing north and looking high in the sky, it’ll appear as if the Big Dipper is dumping on you. The Big Dipper is upside down in the evening this time of year, and according to old American folklore that’s why we have so much rain in the spring, mostly on the weekends, of course.

Technically, the Big Dipper is not a constellation but outlines the rear end and tail of Ursa Major, the Big Bear. The Big Dipper is undoubtedly the brightest part of the great beast.

With your mind’s eye, extend the curve of the handle of the Big Dipper beyond the end of the handle, and you’ll run right into the super bright orange-reddish star Arcturus, the brightest star in the constellation Boötes the Herdsman. Boötes dominates the eastern half of the early evening May sky. Boötes doesn’t look much like a herdsman or shepherd but more like a big sideways kite pointing to the left. Arcturus is at the tail of the giant celestial kite.

In the lower southeastern sky, not far from Arcturus and Boötes, is the large, but faint constellation Virgo the Virgin. Spica is Virgo’s brightest star and, honestly, the only star in Virgo that jumps out at you.

Just to the left of Spica in the low southeast sky is a lopsided trapezoid of four moderately bright stars that outline the constellation Corvus the Crow. Good luck figuring out how that’s supposed to be a crow — a great imagination required!

Mike Lynch is an amateur astronomer and professional broadcast meteorologist for WCCO Radio in Minneapolis/St. Paul. He is also the author of “Stars: a Month by Month Tour of the Constellations,” published by Adventure Publications and available at bookstores and at adventurepublications.net. Contact him at mikewlynch@comcast.net.