Minnesota Starwatch for May 2006
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Starwatch Newsletter

Minnesota Starwatch is a newsletter describing the night sky in the Midwest.

It is updated monthly, and is produced by the
Department of Astronomy, University of Minnesota
116 Church Street SE, Minneapolis, MN 55455

Minnesota Starwatch for May 2006

This month we will have the Full Moon on the 13th and the New Moon on the 27th; the First and Third Quarters will be on the 5th and 20th, respectively.

This month will be good for catching a glimpse of the periodic comet Schwassmann-Wachmann 3 (also known as Comet 73P). Comets are loosely held together collections of ices and dust, 'dirty snowballs', which sometimes break up, especially when plunging deep into the inner Solar System, where the comets experience increased heating from the Sun. Comet S-W 3 broke into a few pieces in 1995, and the break-up process is still continuing. The comet will come closest to Earth on May 12th, which coincidentally is close to the full moon, so the visibility of the comet may be compromised. It should appear as a large and blurry object close to constellations Lyra (with its bright star Vega), Cygnus (the brightest star is Deneb) and Pegasus.

Jupiter will be bright and easily visible most of the nights this month, especially in the late evenings. This is because the planet will be 'in opposition', that is, opposite to the Sun as viewed from Earth, early in the month.

The morning `star' this month, that is, the bright planet that rises just before dawn, will be Venus - look for it low in the eastern sky before sunrise. For fun Astronomy Outreach programs check out our Public Outreach link, or if you're interested in how you can help build the new Minnesota Planetarium, please call 612-630-6151 or visit http://www.mplanetarium.org.

Como Planetarium is offering fun family shows about astronomy on a limited basis; please call 651-293-5398 for more info!

The Minnesota Starwatch is produced by the University of Minnesota Astronomy Department.