May 2022 - On & Off Earth
April’s last morning and May’s first will have the two brightest planets so close together in the pre-dawn sky as to look like one, very bright, “star”. They are actually about 450 million miles apart and binoculars or a telescope will separate them into the brighter but smaller Venus and larger but dimmer Jupiter. Hope for cloud free views of the southeast sky at least one morning; yes, this late sleeper will be up to check it out.
Winding down seasonally rambunctious April and heading into May finds me looking to rapidly expand my garden from a few hardy spring crops to the heat lovers of summer. May’s high sun angle and long days warms both the air and soil, tomato roots liking a warm footing to get the growth and blooms going.
That said, into my fourth decade of gardening in Louisa, with our, often, later spring and earlier fall frosts then Richmond or Charlottesville, I am wary of planting too soon. If you get your tomatoes in early, be weather aware and ready to cover on chilly nights; it’s May, not quite summer yet.
Most months the moon is slightly above or below the plane of Earth’s orbit but twice a year it levels out with us and we have eclipses. April squeezes in a partial solar eclipse on the 30th for the southern hemisphere but the Full Flower moon on the evening of May 15th treats us to a prime time, total lunar eclipse.
The moon begins to slide into Earth’s shadow at 10:28 that evening. It will take about an hour for the shadow to cover the entire moon, totality beginning at 11:29. Because the longer waves of red sunlight bend moving through Earth’s atmosphere some still hit the moon, even with the moon in our shadow. The eclipsed moon’s shade of red or copper are different for every eclipse and will likely vary during the almost hour and a half total phase.
The total eclipse ends at 12:54am and the moon exits the shadow completely at 1:56am. Hope for clear skies, although a few clouds during an eclipse add an eeriness to the event. The next night the still bright, now waning gibbous moon, sits just above Antares, the giant star that marks the heart of Scorpio. Our Sun moves from Aries into Taurus, also on the 15th.
As promised, the Big Dipper guided tour of the Spring sky continues as we look away from Polaris this month. Using the two stars of the Dipper’s lower end as a pointer, we follow them away from the North Star, about the same distance, (you’ll have to crane your neck over to do so) to Regulus, the star at the heart of Leo, the lion’s neck and head forming a backwards question mark above bright Regulus.
Following down the curve of the Dipper’s handle will arc your eyes to brilliant, Arcturus, the 4th brightest star in our night sky. Spiking down from Arcturus will lead your eyes to Spica (#16), the alpha (brightest) star in Virgo; arc to Arcturus, spike to Spica.
While I have spent much of this month’s column off Earth, May, on Earth, is a wonderful time to get out and enjoy the next round of flowers, get your hands dirty in the garden, and enjoy the last cool days of spring before the summer heat settles in for good.
Google sucks..no idea if this will post...Today On Earth
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