May star map

I hope you enjoyed the full moon on Friday night to kick off May. It’s considered by many cultures as the Flower Moon for obvious reasons. We're not done with full moons though this month in Butler, because there’ll be another on May 31. By modern definition, the May 31 full moon will be considered a Blue Moon. It’s the first Blue Moon we’ve had since 2023, and will be the last until 2028. Unless you have some really funky sunglasses though, the full moon on May 31 won’t be sporting anything close to a blue hue!

In between the full moons there’s much to enjoy in the shorter night skies of May. Even though you have to stay up much later, and we’re losing the flashy winter constellations in the western sky, there are still many magnificent jewels in the May heavens. Even with a small telescope, there are star clusters and galaxies galore to enjoy, but you have to visually dig a little harder for them. I’ll have some suggestions in a bit.

Venus and Jupiter are the big “stars” this May in the evening western sky as they gradually draw closer together in the celestial dome. In the latter half of May, they’ll both be residing in the constellation Gemini, home of the bright stars Castor and Pollux. It should be quite a sight! Venus is by far the brightest star-like object this month. It’s so brilliant due to its highly reflective cloud cover and its proximity to Earth. As bright as Venus is, I personally don’t think it’s all that great of a telescope target because of the opaque cloud shroud, but it is fun to observe because it goes through phase changes just like our moon. That’s because its orbit around the sun lies within Earth's orbit. This month Venus resembles a gibbous moon. It’s best to observe Venus with a telescope during evening twilight so it’s not as glaring against the darker sky.

Jupiter is the second brightest starlike object in May, a little higher in the western early evening sky to the upper left of Venus. Jupiter is fainter than Venus, even though it’s so much larger than the planet named after the Roman goddess of love. That’s because it’s so much farther away, beginning May, at over 385 million miles farther away than Venus. Even though it’s a lot farther, Jupiter’s still a fine target for even small telescopes. You can easily resolve the disk of the huge planet and its four brightest moons, constantly changing their positions relative to Jupiter as they orbit the big guy in periods from two to seventeen days. You’ll also see at least some of its darker cloud bands. It’s even possible to observe Jupiter's big red spot, a storm that’s been raging for hundreds of years.

Look in the high southwest evening sky for the bright spring constellation Leo the Lion. The right side of Leo is a distinctive backward question mark of stars that outlines the head and chest of the cosmic lion. At the bottom of the question mark is Leo's brightest star Regulus, marking the lion's heart. The left side of Leo is made up of a small triangle of stars outlining the feline’s Derriere and tail.

Just to the southeast of Leo’s tail and the bright star Spica, you can see at least a small fraction of the famous Virgo cluster of galaxies. For sure you’ll need a telescope to see them, the bigger the better. Honestly, for the most part, the galaxies will just appear mainly as tiny, faint smudges. What’s intriguing though is that these galaxies are over 50 million light-years away. Just one light year is nearly six trillion miles!

In the north, the Big Dipper is riding high and upside down at the start of the month. By month's end, it'll appear to be hanging by its handle. Technically, the Big Dipper is the rear end and tail of the constellation Ursa Major, the Big Bear. Elsewhere in the northern sky is the Little Dipper, lying on its handle, with the North Star, Polaris, at the end of the handle. The Little Dipper is more formally known as Ursa Minor, the Little Bear. There's also Cassiopeia the Queen, resembling a big W, in the low northwestern sky.

In the high eastern sky, the brightest star you can see is Arcturus, a relatively close-by red giant star 37 light-years away. If you’re still not 100 percent sure that you’re seeing Arcturus, use the old adage, “Arc to Arcturus.” Just follow the curve or arc of the Big Dipper’s handle beyond the end of the handle and you’ll run right into Arcturus. It's the brightest star in the constellation Bootes the Herdsman, which more resembles a giant kite with Arcturus marking the tail. According to Greek mythology, Bootes is hunting down Ursa Major, the Big Bear.

Right behind Bootes in the very low eastern sky is the constellation Hercules the Hero. Most of Hercules is fairly faint except for the trapezoid or keystone in the middle of the constellation. That’s the home of one of the true celestial treasures in the heavens, the great Hercules globular cluster, also known as Messier Object 13. Stargazing apps like Sky Guide can help you pinpoint it. The Hercules cluster is a gravitationally bound spherical star cluster 25,000 light-years away. It may contain over half a million stars! It’s breathtaking through even a small telescope!

Enjoy the shorter but warmer hours of stargazing this month!

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.