Sky this Week
The following is a list of some interesting things to see up in the sky this week, May 27 thru June 2, 2007. Some of the events and times given are specific to the Colorado front range (40° N and the MDT timezone).
International Space Station
All ISS passes this week are low in the north, only magnitude +2 or 3 in brightness, a few seconds in duration, and early in the morning.
Sun
Sunrise is 5:38 am to 5:35 am MDT this week. Sunset is 8:21 pm to 8:25 pm MDT. Not much activity on the Sun lately, there are no regions visible. Solar activity is expected to remain at very low levels this week.
Moon
The Moon is full on Thurs. May 31 at 7:04 pm MDT. The following features should have good contrast for viewing on the days indicated:
Sun May 27 Doppelmayer, Encke, Gassendi, Montes Jura, J. Herschel, Hippalus
Mon May 28 Aristarchus, Vallis Shroteri, Billy, Schickard, Reiner Gamma
Tue May 29 Grimaldi, Wargentin
Wed May 30
Fri May 31 Full moon, look for rays!
Sat Jun 1 Promotorium Agarum
Planets
Mercury moves from constellation Taurus into Gemini this week. Its visible in the WNW after sunset at magnitude +0.5 and has a 7.1 arc sec wide disk.
Venus is in constellation Gemini magnitude and -4.1 magnitude brightness and 20.7 arc sec wide. It is visible in the WNW after sunset.
Saturn is in constellation Leo and is +0.5 magnitude and has a 17.6 arc sec disk. It is high up in the WSW after sunset.
Jupiter is in constellation Ophiuchus and rises before 9 pm in the SE. It is magnitude -2.6 and is currently 45.6 arc sec across.
The Great Red Spot (GRS) crosses the center at the following times this week:
Mon May 28 at 3:47 am
Mon May 28 at 11:38 pm
Wed May 30 at 5:25 am
Thurs May 31 at 1:16 am
Thurs May 31 at 9:07 pm
Sat Jun 2 at 2:54 am
Sat Jun 2 at 10:45 pm
The GRS is visible about an hour before and after the central meridian crossing.
Pluto is in constellation Sagitarius and is magnitude +13.9
Neptune is in constellation Capricornus and is magnitude +7.9 and 2.5 arc sec across
Uranus is in constellation Aquarius at magnitude +5.9 and 3.4 arc sec across.
Mars is in constellation Pisces. It is magnitude 0.8 and 5.8 arc sec across.
Comets
96P Machholz is moving rapidly from constellation Delphinius to Aquila. It is currently magnitude +12.9. (See image from Cactus Flats N. last week at http://www.raben.com/weblog/2007/05/23 )
C/2007 E2 (Lovejoy) is in constellation Draco. It is currently magnitude 11.1 and has a 3.4 arc-min wide coma (See http://www.raben.com/weblog/2007/04/30/)
C/2006 VZ13 (LINEAR) is in constellation Andromeda. Magnitude 13.5, getting brighter will be magnitude 9 by July. (See image from Cactus Flats N. last week at http://www.raben.com/weblog/2007/05/22 )
Asteroids
There are eight asteroids visible this week brighter than magnitude +11. Four may be seen early in the evening. Position and magnitude are for Fri June 1 at 10:30 pm MDT. Consult your star chart program for asteroid position on different days.
3 Juno is in constellation Virgo (RA 12:59:58, Dec +04 26′54″) magnitude +10.6
4 Vesta is in constellation Ophiuchus (RA 16:30:33 Dec -14 08′43″) magnitude +5.4
85 Io is in constellation Ophiuchus (RA 17:19:44, Dec -06 42′50″) magnitude +10.8
21 Lutetia is in constellation Ophiuchus at RA 16:28:50 Decl -20 43′37″ magnitude +9.9
9 Metis is in constellation Sagittarius at RA 18:27:12 Decl -25 58′25″ magnitude +10.2
192 Nausikaa is in constellation Sagittarius at RA 19:30:55 Decl -32 07′02″ magnitude +10.8
2 Pallas is in constellation Pegasus at RA 22:45:06 Decl +10 04′48″ magnitude +10.3
40 Harmonia is in constellation Capricornus at RA 21:15:48 Decl -17 45′05″ magnitude +10.9
Dark Sky
The moon interferes with our views of the dark sky this week.