{"id":31704,"date":"2022-05-01T07:01:51","date_gmt":"2022-05-01T07:01:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.skyatnightmagazine.com\/?p=107805"},"modified":"2022-05-01T07:21:06","modified_gmt":"2022-05-01T07:21:06","slug":"star-diary-podcast-2-to-8-may-2022","status":"publish","type":"rss_feed","link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/rss_feed\/star-diary-podcast-2-to-8-may-2022\/","title":{"rendered":"Star Diary Podcast: 2 to 8 May 2022"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/p>

By Ezzy Pearson\n \t\t<\/p>

Published: Sunday, 01 May 2022 at 12:00 am<\/p>

\n\n

What\u2019s coming up in the northern hemisphere\u2019s night sky in the month of 2 to 8 May 2022.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\nLink to <a href=\""https:\/\/shows.acast.com\/radio-astronomy\/star-diary-2-8-may"\">Star Diary episode.<\/a><\/p>\n<h1>Transcript<\/h1>\nChris Bramley <\/strong>Hello and welcome to Star Diary, the podcast from the makers of BBC Sky at night magazine. You can subscribe to the print edition of the magazine by visiting <a href=\""http:\/\/www.skyatnightmagazine.com"\">www.skyatnightmagazine.com<\/a> or to a digital edition by visiting iTunes or Google Play.<\/p>\nEzzy Pearson <\/strong>Greetings listeners, welcome to Star Diary. A weekly guide to the best things to see in the Northern Hemisphere\u2019s Night Sky. In this episode, we\u2019ll be covering the coming week of 2nd to\u00a0 8th May. I\u2019m Ezzy Pearson, the magazine\u2019s news editor, and I\u2019m joined on the podcast today by reviews editor Paul Money. Hello Paul<\/p>\nPaul Money <\/strong>Hello, Ezzy, how\u2019s things?<\/p>\nEzzy Pearson <\/strong>Things are going well. So, Paul, what can you tell me about what\u2019s going to be coming up in the next week in the night sky?<\/p>\nPaul Money <\/strong>Well, we often talk about the fact that so much is happening in the morning sky, and we have to get up. Guess what? We\u2019ve got an evening event to start with. Absolutely brilliant. I know it\u2019s lot easier to observe. You don\u2019t have to stay up all night, but we\u2019ve got <a href=\""https:\/\/www.skyatnightmagazine.com\/advice\/skills\/how-see-planets-april\/"\">Mercury in the evening sky<\/a>. But we will lose it during the coming week. So it\u2019s time to grab Mercury while he can. And he\u2019s got a great little apparition on the second with the slim crescent moon to its left. A really young crescent moon to its right slightly below it is the Pleiades, Messier 45, that wonderful star cluster. And this is really your last chance to get the <a href=\""https:\/\/www.skyatnightmagazine.com\/astrophotography\/stars\/star-clusters\/pleiades\/"\">Pleiades<\/a> and nearby Hyades with Aldebaran as well. Taurus. We\u2019re losing the winter constellations now. Oh no! The light nights are creeping on us as such. But this is a great evening apparition I mean, you know, the cluster will be harder in the twilight, but Mercury should be easily visible and because obviously the crescent moon as well. You need to look in roughly west northwest about 9:30pm, so you know not too late so you\u2019ll be able to observe it and binoculars, naked eye that sort of thing, you know, to actually get them a good view, really to see them. But this is your last chance, really for Mercury this next week. And if you don\u2019t get it now, it will rapidly drop back down into the twilight, very\u2026 Into the solar glare and we\u2019ll lose it. but it\u2019s nice to have it next to the moon and next to the Pleiades as well. Now, moving on, while we\u2019re talking about the Moon, it\u2019s one of those targets whereby it\u2019s a lovely crescent. But look at that crescent. Now you might notice with a crescent, there\u2019s a there\u2019s a little bit of a black spot black area on that crescent disk. And what you\u2019re seeing is <a href=\""https:\/\/www.skyatnightmagazine.com\/astrophotography\/moon\/mare-crisium\/"\">Mare Crisium<\/a>, the sea of crises. And the thing about this is it\u2019s a lovely feature to capture because you need to capture on day three and day four after New Moon, which ironically works out well with May 3 and May 4. So this is a good time to get it on the third. The actual Terminator the day night boundary is actually bisecting the sea, so it\u2019s cut in half, but by the fourth, the whole of the sea mechanism will be available. And the thing about this is that it\u2019s got a nice dark floor. This is the lava of the basalt call very quickly. That\u2019s why it\u2019s quite dark. So it stands out extremely well and there are several craters. I\u2019m going to pick out one, mainly because is a good, it seems like there\u2019s a connection with a famous franchise, sci fi franchise <a href=\""https:\/\/www.skyatnightmagazine.com\/top-astronomy-kit\/best-star-trek-merchandise-2022\/"\">Star Trek<\/a>. It\u2019s called Picard. No, not Jean-Luc of The Next Generation. No, this is actually Jean Picard, who is a 17th century French astronomer, a member of the Academy of Sciences in 1666.<\/p>\nEzzy Pearson <\/strong>I mean, I\u2019m fairly sure Jean-Luc Picard name was stolen from Jean Picard, the astronomer do to do that in Star Trek and things, so I think it\u2019s a bit too close. The French astronomer Jean Picard, I wouldn\u2019t be surprised.<\/p>\nPaul Money <\/strong>So there you are. The lineage of Jean Luc.<\/p>\nEzzy Pearson <\/strong>I do have to say I love the sometimes love the names of various places on the Moon. You know, you\u2019ve got like Picard, you\u2019ve got the the Sea of Tranquillity, like the Bay of Rainbows, the Sea of Crises.<\/p>\nPaul Money <\/strong>Yes. What? What made them think of the sea of crises? What was going through their mind at the time? Perhaps there was a storm at sea, you know, that made them think, Hmm, yeah, Sea of Crises. That would be a good one as such. So but yes, there\u2019s a lot of astronomers, astronomers, mathematicians, scientists named on the moon craters. So, you know, so hopefully over the coming months, as we do the podcast, we might pick out a few more. But that caught my eye. Picard.\u00a0 I don\u2019t think there\u2019s a crater data on the Moon. Not as far as as I\u2019m aware<\/p>\nEzzy Pearson <\/strong>There\u2019s probably an asteroid.<\/p>\nPaul Money <\/strong>I wouldn\u2019t be surprised.<\/p>\nEzzy Pearson <\/strong>Asteroids have all kinds of weird and wonderful names.<\/p>\nPaul Money <\/strong>Would that mean in the future, they\u2019d go data mining?<\/p>\nEzzy Pearson <\/strong>Oh\u2026<\/p>\nPaul Money <\/strong>Oh. That\u2019s absolutely terrible, Linda. Anyway, rapidly moving on because of my poor joke. We now switch back to the morning sky because let\u2019s face it, at the moment, a lot of the action is in the morning sky because we\u2019ve had so many planets there that a naked eye, we\u2019ve got Saturn, Mars, Jupiter and Venus. Now, literally, Yesterday, on May 1st Jupiter and Venus were actually in conjunction just 22 arc minutes apart. So from now on, they\u2019re going to get wider and wider. The gap between them increases. And this is because Venus is dropping back into the solar glare. But Jupiter is creeping out, so we\u2019ve got the advantage. We\u2019re going to gain Jupiter, but we\u2019re going to eventually lose Venus. So we\u2019ve got four major planets at the moment. So then we got Venus and Mars, the inner planets, and we\u2019ve got Jupiter and Saturn as well. So well worth keeping an eye on them sort of thing as the week progresses, because you\u2019ll see quite a gap building between Venus and Jupiter. You want to be roughly looking east to south east and south east for Saturn, and you\u2019ll find about 4:40 in the morning. The problem is the light is getting quite light, isn\u2019t it now in the morning sky? It has to be said. So, you know, this is worth catching those planets while you can. So there we are. So that\u2019s the planet in the morning sky as you do have to set an alarm unless, you\u2019re a real late night person and stay up all night. But then we come to the 6th, May 6th, we have a meteor shower. Now, the thing about meteor showers is they get a lot of media hype. They use the zenith hourly rate, which for some reason have gone out of my head now. But the point about the <a href=\""https:\/\/www.skyatnightmagazine.com\/advice\/how-to-see-the-eta-aquariid-meteor-shower\/"\">Eta Aquarids<\/a> is they\u2019re better seen in the southern hemisphere because they\u2019re quite low down. But the actual the radiant is sort of like above Mars near the star ETA Aquarii. Hence the name ETA Aquarids. So the thing about this is that you will see some, but you really need to observe them as soon as Mars and Saturn get above the horizon, start watching up until dawn. But don\u2019t expect high rates because unfortunately, it\u2019s not well-placed for the northern hemisphere, but it doesn\u2019t mean to say you won\u2019t get any mages at all. So, you know, if you fancy spot, a meteor hunting and it\u2019s a clear morning. You know, have a go at the Eta Aquarids itself, but make sure you get them before dawn. But remember when the media mentioned the zenith hourly rate and starts hyping up, that\u2019s under perfect conditions, looking directly above us on the pitch, black skies with barely any atmosphere is certainly between us. Mind you, if there\u2019s no atmosphere, we won\u2019t see the meteors, what we.<\/p>\nEzzy Pearson <\/strong>We wouldn\u2019t see a lot.<\/p>\nPaul Money <\/strong>Exactly! Exactly. No atmosphere, no meteors in the sky. They will be meteoroids until they hit, when they become a meteorite. Oh, that definition always gets so many people in a twirl because they don\u2019t get it right sort of thing. But in space, it\u2019s a meteoroid, in the atmosphere it\u2019s a meteor. And if they land, they\u2019re big enough that are meteorite. But I don\u2019t believe you get meteorites from the Eta Aquarid. You tend to get these lovely streaks, which are just the meteors, but keep an eye on them just in case it\u2019s worth it were, you know, if you get a clear sky,<\/p>\nEzzy Pearson <\/strong>I always think with meteor showers is as long as you you know what you should expect, they\u2019re always worth it. Because, you know, whilst your observing try to find meteors, you can still, you know, enjoy the night sky. You can still look up at the stars if you\u2019re lucky enough to be able to. In a place where you can see the Milky Way, you can enjoy that. And it\u2019s it\u2019s just it\u2019s just sort of knowing that you might only see one or two over the course of the night and then it becomes like a hunt. It\u2019s a sort of game to try and see how many of these things you can spot, which I always think is fun. And again, it\u2019s like we were talking about last week with comets being these kind of like fickle things. Meteor showers are the same. We know when we there going to happen, but we don\u2019t know exactly when a meteor is going to appear. We don\u2019t\u2026 We can\u2019t know that if we look at this specific point on the night sky at this specific time, we\u2019ll see one. So I think that\u2019s always a bit fun for me.<\/p>\nPaul Money <\/strong>And I can guarantee you shouldn\u2019t really have me anywhere near you observing mages wherever they are. If I am a camera in one direction that behind me always, I can guarantee something. And the key is to set up several meteor cameras all at once.<\/p>\nEzzy Pearson <\/strong>I need you to be near me and then I need to face the other direction.<\/p>\nPaul Money <\/strong>But there we are. So end of week one.<\/p>\nChris Bramley <\/strong>Thank you for listening to this episode of the Story Diary podcast from the makers of BBC Scotland magazine. For more of our podcast, visit our website at Sky at Night Magazine Dot Com or head to a coast, iTunes or Spotify.<\/p>\n\u00a0<\/p><\/body><\/html>\n<hr class=\"no-tts wp-block-separator\"\/>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"By Ezzy Pearson Published: Sunday, 01 May 2022 at 12:00 am What\u2019s coming up in the northern hemisphere\u2019s night sky in the month of 2 to 8 May 2022. Link to Star Diary episode. Transcript Chris Bramley Hello and welcome to Star Diary, the podcast from the makers of BBC Sky at night magazine. You […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":31705,"template":"","categories":[1],"acf":{"readingTimeMinutes":"9"},"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2022\/05\/star-diary-podcast-2-to-8-may-2022.jpg",1500,1000,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2022\/05\/star-diary-podcast-2-to-8-may-2022-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2022\/05\/star-diary-podcast-2-to-8-may-2022-300x200.jpg",300,200,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2022\/05\/star-diary-podcast-2-to-8-may-2022-768x512.jpg",768,512,true],"large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2022\/05\/star-diary-podcast-2-to-8-may-2022-1024x683.jpg",800,534,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2022\/05\/star-diary-podcast-2-to-8-may-2022.jpg",1500,1000,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2022\/05\/star-diary-podcast-2-to-8-may-2022.jpg",1500,1000,false]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"importmanagerhub@sprylab.com","author_link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/author\/importmanagerhubsprylab-com\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"By Ezzy Pearson Published: Sunday, 01 May 2022 at 12:00 am What\u2019s coming up in the northern hemisphere\u2019s night sky in the month of 2 to 8 May 2022. Link to Star Diary episode. Transcript Chris Bramley Hello and welcome to Star Diary, the podcast from the makers of BBC Sky at night magazine. You…","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed\/31704"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/rss_feed"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/31705"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31704"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=31704"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}