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Home -> Astronomy News -> Events -> May 2007
Post Info TOPIC: May 2007
Blobrana


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JPL Open House
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JPL Open House Takes Visitors on a Journey to the Planets and Beyond
NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, invites the public on a "Journey To the Planets and Beyond." The laboratory will open its doors during its annual Open House on Saturday and Sunday, May 19 and 20, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Visitors will learn about JPL's exciting space missions and see robots in action. Scientists and engineers will also answer questions about the solar system, the universe and our home planet.
A giant balloon that may someday explore Venus will be on display in JPL's Spacecraft Assembly Facility, the clean room where spacecraft and instruments are built.

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Blobrana


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RE: May 2007
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May is a wonderful month for observing planets. Venus, Mercury, Saturn and Jupiter all are putting on a show running from sunset to after midnight.
Venus continues to dominate the western evening sky. This brilliant planet becomes visible at sundown and sets nearly four hours after the sun.
Mercury puts on its best show of the year, appearing low in the western sky about 30 minutes after sunset. Like Venus, Mercury goes through moonlike phases visible through a telescope.
Saturn remains high in the southwest between the constellations Leo and Cancer and is visible past midnight.
Jupiter rises above the southeast horizon shortly before midnight.

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Blobrana


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Planets May 2007
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MAYplanets07_a
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Blobrana


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Highlights May 2007
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The celtic festival of Beltane on May 1st.

North American Nebula
this is an enormous and vivid cloud of gas and dust which has striking resemblance to North America, . Due to its large size (four degrees across, eight times the angular size of the Moon), the nebula ("NGC7000") must be viewed with low power instruments such as richest field telescopes or binoculars. Located in Cygnus the Swan, it rises in the east in the early evening on this date and becomes an easy object by 11:00 PM. For a relatively faint patch such as this a dark moonless sky is going to be necessary. First look for it with the naked eye. If you can't find it that way, try sweeping across the area with your binoculars.
Behind the nebula lies the part of the Milky Way. Photographs will show a million dancing fiery lights all splashed wildly across the ebony sky.
Deneb is thought to be the illuminating star, at about 70 light years away. The cloud is itself about 45 light years across.

The Summer Triangle -- Vega, Deneb, and Altair -- holds the central position, high in the south. The scorpion sits low to the south and slightly west. Directly to the arachnid's east is Sagittarius, the Archer, and between the two lies the direction toward the Milky Way galaxy's centre. The ribbon of soft light that delineates our galaxy flows up from the south, through the Triangle, and then cascades toward the northern horizon.

Bootes, the Herdsman
As May heads into June, the precession of Greek character continues across the evening skies. This evening you will likely see Bootes, the Herdsman, rising high in the heavens.
Bootes is believed to have been Arcas the illicit son of Zeus and Callisto, the daughter of Arcadia. Callisto was the favourite hunting partner of the goddess of hunting, Artemis. Zeus wanted Callisto and succeeded by assuming the appearance of Artemis one day. When it became clear to the real Artemis what had happened, she banished her friend from her company.
After Callisto gave birth to her son, Arcas, the wife of Zeus became angry at her husband's indiscretions. Cursing her, she changed her rival into a bear and condemned her to wander the forest for years to come. Years later Arcas himself became an accomplished hunter and stumbled across this bear in the woods. At that point, Zeus stepped in and sent the both of them into the heavens where Callisto was turned into Ursa Major and her son Arcas, Bootes.
In another legend Bootes was identified as Icarus, the inventor of wine. One day he gave some wine to a few clueless shepherds. Mistaking their drunken state for being poisoned they, killed him. Maera, his dog ran home and returned with Erigone, the daughter of Icarius who upon seeing her dead father committed suicide along with the dog. Taking pity on them, Zeus immortalized them in the heavens for all eternity. Maera became Canis Minor, Erigone is now seen as Virgo, and Icarius of course is Bootes.
The constellation is best known for housing Arcturus, the fourth brightest star in the sky .

Coma Berenices
Rising in the eastern skies about mid-evening is the faint constellation, Coma Berenices, "Berenices' Hair", . Undistinguished as it seems, this constellation has one significant feather in its cap : this is where the North Galactic Pole (NGP) is located in between stars Beta and Gamma. The galaxy like everything else in the Universe rotates around on an axis. Where the Earth spins every 24 hours, our galaxy takes about 20 million years for each rotation and the NGP is where the North Pole of the galaxy is aimed. The southern Galactic Pole is located in Sculptor. Since you are looking away from the galaxy you will see fewer bright stars than toward the body the Milky Way. But now you have a clear shot into extra galactic space revealing all many more galaxies which would otherwise be hidden by our own.
While Coma Berenices is one of the more modern constellations (being created in 1551), the grouping was mentioned on occasion by the ancients. Frequently referred to both as the "hair" of either Ariadne or Queen Berenice of Egypt. Unlike most constellations this is one of the few that refers to a real person.
Berenice married her brother, Ptolemy III (as was Egyptian royal tradition) in the third century BC. A few days after her marriage Ptolemy went off to war. She promised him that if he were to return safely she would cut off her hair. He did, and so she did, placing it in the temple as a gift to the gods. The next day her hair mysteriously was gone, gone to the stars according to the court mathematician.
While dim in stars, Coma Berenices is a very fertile playground for astronomers, containing about half of the famous Coma-Virgo galactic cluster. So it has many fine galaxies well within the grasp of amateur telescopes.

Notable Messier objects

M13 in the constellation Hercules, is one of the largest of over 100 globular clusters in our Galaxy. Located about 25,000 light-years away, it contains about half a million stars packed into a space only a few tens of light years in diameter. Globular clusters contain some of the oldest stars in the Universe.
M56Also in the constellation of Lyra we find our first globular cluster of the night. In a telescope look for a small round ball of light, slightly brighter in the centre. This is a difficult binocular object appearing as a small fuzzy patch.
M27Also known as the Dumbbell nebula, the largest planetary nebula in the Messier Catalogue, M27 lies in the constellation Vulpecula. Fairly easy to see in binoculars as a small hazy patch. In small to medium scopes it appears as a rectangular patch of light. In large scopes it may even appear round in shape with a bright rectangular, or dumbbell shaped core.

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Blobrana


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RE: May 2007
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May ?? - New Horizons, Trajectory Correction Maneuver (TCM) May ?? - Cbers 2B CZ-4B Launch
May ?? - Cosmos-Oko N88 Molniya M Launch
May ?? - TerraSAR-X Dnepr 1 Launch
May ?? - Genesis 2 Dnepr 1 Launch
May ?? - Cosmos (Parus N97)/ Orbcomm-CDS 3 Cosmos 3M Launch
May 02 - updated.gif Full Moon, 11:09.4 UT
May 02 - Asteroid 9770 Discovery Closest Approach To Earth (0.958 AU)
May 03 - Astra 1-L/ Galaxy 17 Ariane 5 Launch
May 03 - Asteroid 2007 HZ58 Near-Earth Flyby (0.060 AU)
May 03 - Asteroid 2991 Bilbo Closest Approach To Earth (1.155 AU)
May 03 - Asteroid 5553 Chodas Closest Approach To Earth (1.435 AU)
May 03-05 - International Workshop on Flows, Boundaries, Interactions, Sinaia, Romania
May 03-05 - Young Scientists International School: Heliosphere and Galaxy, Sinaia, Romania
May 04 - Space Day
May 04 - Cassini, Orbital Trim Maneuver #108 (OTM-108)
May 04 - Comet Holmes Perihelion (2.053 AU)
May 04 - Asteroid 2007 GQ3 Near-Earth Flyby (0.033 AU)
May 04 - Asteroid 1999 HF1 Near-Venus Flyby (0.048 AU)
May 04 - Asteroid 3352 McAuliffe Closest Approach To Earth (0.907 AU)
May 04 - Asteroid 3356 Resnik Closest Approach To Earth (1.007 AU)
May 04 - Asteroid 18725 Atacama Closest Approach To Earth (2.036 AU)
May 04 - 40th Anniversary (1967), Lunar Orbiter 4 Launch
May 04-09 - Greenland Space Sciences Symposium: Transport in the Coupled Solar Wind - Geospace System Seen From a High-Latitude Vantage Point, Kangerlussuaq, Greenland
May 05 - Eta Aquarids Meteor Shower Peak
May 06-11 - 9th European Conference on Atoms Molecules and Photons, Crete, Greece
May 07 - Comet C/2006 S2 (LINEAR) Perihelion (3.161 AU)
May 07 - Asteroid 1998 VO Near-Earth Flyby (0.063 AU)
May 07 - Asteroid 4116 Elachi Closest Approach To Earth (0.958 AU)
May 07 - Asteroid 12002 Sues Closest Approach To Earth (1.993 AU)
May 07 - Asteroid 2161 Grissom Closest Approach To Earth (2.125 AU)
May 07 - Asteroid 4446 Carolyn Closest Approach To Earth (2.643 AU)
May 07 - 10th Anniversary (1997), Galileo, Ganymede 8 Flyby
May 07-09 - EarthCARE Workshop, Noordwijk, The Netherlands
May 07-09 - 2007 Phenomenology Symposium, Madison, Wisconsin
May 08 - Cassini, Orbital Trim Maneuver #109 (OTM-109)
May 08 - Asteroid 528 Rezia Occults HIP 2843 (6.7 Magnitude Star)
May 08 - Asteroid 1862 Apollo Near-Earth Flyby (0.071 AU)
May 09 - Asteroid 2007 HH44 Near-Earth Flyby (0.059 AU)
May 09 - Asteroid 2000 LG6 Near-Earth Flyby (0.079 AU)
May 09 - Asteroid 2906 Caltech Closest Approach To Earth (2.577 AU)
May 09 - Avian Alert Workshop - Solutions through Synergy, Noordwijk, The Netherlands
May 09-11 - Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope (CFHT) 2007 Users' Meeting, Marseille, France
May 09-11 - Symposium: New Trends in Radiation Hydrodynamics, Nordita, Sweden
May 10 - updated.gif Last Quarter, 5:27 UT
May 10 - Comet P/2007 H3 (Garradd) Closest Approach To Earth (1.192 AU)
May 10 - Comet C/2006 F2 (Christensen) Closest Approach To Earth (4.110 AU)
May 10 - Asteroid 381 Myrrha Occults HIP 15900 (3.6 Magnitude Star)
May 10 - Asteroid 9941 Iguanodo Closest Approach To Earth (1.358 AU)
May 10-12 - Workshop: Dynamics and Thermodynamics of Blackholes, Milan, Italy
May 10-12 - 3MA International Symposium: Magmatism, Metamorphism, Fez, Morocco
May 11 - Asteroid 20001 (1991 CM) Occults HIP 36238 (5.2 Magnitude Star)
May 12 - Progress M-60 Soyuz U Launch (International Space Station 25P)
May 12 - Cassini, Titan Flyby
May 12 - Moon Occults Uranus
May 12 - Comet P/1998 QP54 (LONEOS-Tucker) Perihelion (1.880 AU)
May 12 - Asteroid 581 Tauntonia Occults HIP 105881 (3.9 Magnitude Star)
May 12 - 2007 Regolith Excavation NASA Centennial Challenge
May 12-16 - Black Holes VI Meeting, White Point, Nova Scotia, Canada
May 13 - Comet Shoemaker-Levy 8 Closest Approach To Earth (1.704 AU)
May 13 - Asteroid 11714 Mikebrown Closest Approach To Earth (1.496 AU)
May 14 - Comet Hergenrother Closest Approach To Earth (1.521 AU)
May 14 - Asteroid 6432 Temirkanov Occults HIP 113674 (6.2 Magnitude Star)
May 14 - Asteroid 3656 Hemingway Closest Approach To Earth (0.909 AU)
May 14-16 - International Symposium: Trends in Public Procurement, Noordwijk, The Netherlands
May 14-16 - 62nd Netherlands Astronomy Conference (NAC), Veldhoven, The Netherlands
May 14-17 - Conference: Origins of Dark Energy, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada
May 14-18 - IHY Conference: Heliophysics - The Sun, the Heliosphere and the Earth, Bad Honnef, Germany
May 14-18 - Meeting: Molecules in Space and Laboratory, Val d'Oise, France
May 14-28 - 2nd Virtual Meeting on Modern Astronomy
May 15 - Cassini, Orbital Trim Maneuver #110 (OTM-110)
May 15 - Asteroid 4 Vesta Occults TYC 5641-00310-1 (10.7 Magnitude Star)
May 15 - Asteroid 7495 Feynman Closest Approach To Earth (1.816 AU)
May 15 - Asteroid 2198 Ceplecha Closest Approach To Earth (2.088 AU)
May 15 - Asteroid 3728 IRAS Closest Approach To Earth (2.198 AU)
May 15 - Asteroid 5661 Hildebrand Closest Approach To Earth (2.822 AU)
May 16 - updated.gif New Moon, 20:27.2 UT
May 16-18 - Workshop: Multiplicity in Star Formation, Toronto, Canada
May 17 - Comet 2P Encke Closest Approach To Earth (0.507 AU)
May 17 - Asteroid 4 Vesta Occults TYC 5641-00161-1 (10.9 Magnitude Star)
May 17 - Asteroid 2961 Katsurahama Occults HIP 36060 (6.9 Magnitude Star)
May 17 - Asteroid 2007 FK1 Near-Earth Flyby (0.077 AU)
May 17-18 - Meeting: Physics of the Universe Confronts Observations, Paris, France
May 17-19 - 12th Canadian Conference on General Relativity, Fredericton, Canada
May 18 - NROL-30 Atlas 5 Launch
May 18 - Asteroid 3767 DiMaggio Closest Approach To Earth (1.342 AU)
May 18-20 - Workshop: Excurisions in the Dark, Waterloo, Ontario, Canada
May 19 - Nigcomsat 1 CZ-3B Launch
May 19 - Asteroid 1115 Sabauda Occults HIP 81632 (6.4 Magnitude Star)
May 19 - Asteroid 2006 WN3 Near-Earth Flyby (0.087 AU)
May 19 - Asteroid 9880 Stegosaurus Closest Approach To Earth (1.519 AU)
May 19 - Asteroid 2829 Bobhope Closest Approach To Earth (1.846 AU)
May 19 - 1st International Sidewalk Astronomy Night
May 20 - Cassini, Orbital Trim Maneuver #111 (OTM-111)
May 20 - Asteroid 1225 Ariane Closest Approach To Earth (1.315 AU)
May 20 - Asteroid 5145 Pholus Closest Approach To Earth (20.254 AU)
May 20-25 - XIXth Rencontres de Blois: Matter and Energy in the Universe, Blois, France
May 21 - Globalstar-9 Soyuz FG-Fregat Launch
May 21 - Asteroid 3949 Mach Closest Approach To Earth (1.145 AU)
May 21-22 - Advanced Concept for Radar Sounding Workshop 2007, Cambridge, United Kingdom
May 21-23 - Struve International Scientific Conference, Kharkov, Ukraine
May 21-24 - Meeting: Extragalactic Jets - Theory and Observation, Girdwood, Alaska
May 21-25 - IAU Symposium 243: Star-Disk Interaction in Young Stars, Grenoble, France
May 22 - Moon Occults Saturn
May 22 - Asteroid 2003 YN107 Near-Earth Flyby (0.062 AU)
May 22-25 - American Geophysical Union (AGU) 2007 Joint Assembly, Acapulco, Mexico
May 23 - updated.gif First Quarter, 22:02.5 UT
May 23 - Comet C/2007 E1 (Garradd) Perihelion (1.286 AU)
May 23 - Asteroid 2003 HB Near-Earth Flyby (0.089 AU)
May 23 - Asteroid 6371 Heinlein Closest Approach To Earth (2.029 AU)
May 23 - Asteroid 9860 Archaeopteryx Closest Approach To Earth (2.069 AU)
May 23-25 - 7th Annual International Conference: Relativistic Astrophysics, Kyiv, Ukraine
May 24 - Cosmo Skymed 1 Delta 2 Launch
May 24 - Asteroid 3267 Glo Closest Approach To Earth (2.087 AU)
May 24 - Asteroid 3568 ASCII Closest Approach To Earth (2.124 AU)
May 24 - 45th Anniversary (1962), Aurora 7 Launch (Scott Carpenter)
May 24-25 - Supernova Remnant Workshop, Honolulu, Hawaii
May 25 - Cassini, Orbital Trim Maneuver #112 (OTM-112)
May 26 - Cassini, Tethys & Epimetheus Distant Flyby
May 27 - Comet C/2007 D3 (LINEAR) Perihelion (5.209 AU)
May 27 - Asteroid 4179 Toutatis Closest Approach To Earth (2.878 AU)
May 27-31 - 210th Meeting of the American Astronomical Society (AAS), Honolulu, Hawaii
May 27-Jun 01 - Conference: Structure Formation in the Universe, Chamonix, France
May 28 - Cassini, Titan Flyby
May 28 - Comet Machholz 1 Closest Approach To Earth (0.618 AU)
May 28 - Asteroid 17023 Abbott Closest Approach To Earth (1.591 AU)
May 28-30 - XMM-Newton Legacy Projects Workshop, Madrid, Spain
May 28-Jun 01 - Space Astronomy Conference: The UV window to the Universe, Madrid, Spain
May 29 - Asteroid 3130 Hillary Closest Approach To Earth (1.566 AU)
May 29 - Asteroid 7818 Muirhead Closest Approach To Earth (2.222 AU)
May 29-31 - Workshop: Astrophysical Ionizing Radiation Sources and Their Impact on Life, Honolulu, Hawaii
May 29-Jun 01 - ESLAB Symposium: The Impact of HST on European Astronomy, Noordwijk, Netherlands
May 29-Jun 01 - Workshop: N-body Dynamics in Near-Keplerian Potentials, Leiden, The Netherlands
May 29-Jun 02 - Conference: The Milky Way Halo, Bonn, Germany
May 30 - Comet Shoemaker-Levy 8 Perihelion (2.711 AU)
May 30 - Asteroid 3808 Tempel Closest Approach To Earth (1.251 AU)
May 30 - Asteroid 10051 Albee Closest Approach To Earth (2.066 AU)
May 31 - Cassini, Orbital Trim Maneuver #113 (OTM-113)
May 31 - Asteroid 4 Vesta At Opposition (5.4 Magnitude)
May 31 - Asteroid 21 Lutetia At Opposition (9.9 Magnitude)
May 31 - Asteroid 4 Vesta Occults UCAC2 26696539 (12.0 Magnitude Star)

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