Welcome to SkyEye, your guide to this month's celestial events. All times and dates are given in Universal Time (UT). Nightly darkness estimates are calculated for Greenwich, London (51.5° N, 0° W).
| Date | Event | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Fri | ||
| 2 | Sat | Last Quarter Moon | |
| 3 | Sun | Jupiter at opposition | |
| Comet C/2003 T4 LINEAR at perihelion: This comet may reach naked-eye visibility as it moves from the constellation Aquarius to the constellation Sculptor. Discovered on 13 October 2003, this object has an eccentricity of 1.0 and an inclination of nearly 90°. | |||
| 4 | Mon | Moon at perigee | |
| 5 | Tue | ||
| 6 | Wed | ||
| 7 | Thu | ||
| 8 | Fri | New Moon | |
| Annular-total eclipse of the Sun | |||
| 9 | Sat | Moon occults Venus during daytime hours. | |
| 10 | Sun | Saturn at eastern quadrature | |
| 11 | Mon | ||
| 12 | Tue | ||
| 13 | Wed | ||
| 14 | Thu | ||
| 15 | Fri | ||
| 16 | Sat | First Quarter Moon at apogee | |
| 17 | Sun | ||
| 18 | Mon | ||
| 19 | Tue | ||
| 20 | Wed | ||
| 21 | Thu | ||
| 22 | Fri | This year's appearance of the Lyrids meteor shower is spoiled by bright skies. | |
| Moon occults Jupiter as seen from southern Africa and Madagascar. The occulation begins at about 1700 UT. | |||
| 23 | Sat | The Pi-Puppids is similarly washed out by the glare of the nearly full Moon | |
| 24 | Sun | Penumbral eclipse of the Moon | |
| Full Moon | |||
| 25 | Mon | ||
| 26 | Tue | Mercury at greatest elongation west | |
| Moon occults the first-magnitude star Antares as seen from northern Africa, the Middle East and India. The occultation begins at about 2300 UT. | |||
| 27 | Wed | ||
| 28 | Thu | ||
| 29 | Fri | Moon at perigee | |
| 30 | Sat | ||
The word planet is derived from the Greek word for "wanderer." Unlike the background stars, planets seem to move around the sky, keeping mostly to a narrow track called the ecliptic, the path of the Sun across the stars.
Constellations are patterns of stars in the sky. The International Astronomical Union (IAU) recognises 88 different constellations. The brightest stars as seen from the Earth are easy to spot but do you know their proper names? With a set of binoculars you can look for fainter objects such as nebulae and galaxies or some of the closest stars to the Sun.
Descriptions of the sky for observers in both the northern and southern hemispheres are available for the following times this month. Subtract one hour from your local time if summer (daylight savings) time is in effect.
| Local Time | Northern Hemisphere | Southern Hemisphere |
|---|---|---|
| 1730 hours (1830 hours summer time) | 45° N | 30° S |
| 1930 hours (2030 hours summer time) | 45° N | 30° S |
| 2130 hours (2230 hours summer time) | 45° N | 30° S |
| 2330 hours (0030 hours summer time) | 45° N | 30° S |
| 0130 hours (0230 hours summer time) | 45° N | 30° S |
| 0330 hours (0430 hours summer time) | 45° N | 30° S |
| 0530 hours (0630 hours summer time) | 45° N | 30° S |
Much of this information can be found in this month's issue of your favourite amateur astronomy magazine available in your local bookshop. Another excellent source is the current edition of the Astronomical Calendar by Guy Ottewell and published by the Universal Workshop at Furman University.
The image of the Sun in the SkyEye banner is courtesy of the SOHO/EIT consortium. The composite image from May 1998 combines EIT images from three wavelengths (171Å, 195Å and 284Å) into one that reveals solar features unique to each wavelength. SOHO is a project of international cooperation between ESA and NASA.
Copyright © 1995-2005 by David Harper and L.M. Stockman