2018 Week 18: (April 29-May 5)

We are already on the 18th week of the year and it seems we have finally crawled out of Winter.  The snow is gone from the backyard and the telescope can come out and see the wonderful Spring sights!  As we progress into May there are a few things to keep an eye out for in the sky.

Date	Event
April 29	Mercury Greatest Elongation West
April 29	Full Moon
April 29	Jupiter 1.4°S of Moon
May 4	Saturn 1.7°S of Moon
May 5	Eta-Aquarid Meteors Peak
May 5	Ralph Klein Star Night (7-10pm)

Mercury will be at its greatest elongation West on the 29th which would normally mean having a good chance of seeing it the morning of April 30.  You can try.  The ecliptic is not angled in favour of a good sighting for us in the Northern Hemisphere.  We should have a good morning shot at the planet near the end of August 2018.

The Moon will be Full on April 29.  It felt quite full last night at the Rothney Astrophysical Observatory.  It made looking for deep-sky objects quite difficult.  I could only make out 3 stars in the Little Dipper due to the near maximum illumination provided by our lunar neighbour.  The Full Moon will be good friends with Jupiter on the 29th and 30th as it will be very close to the large planet.

Several days later on the 4th the Moon once again becomes friends with Saturn with Mars closely following behind for those who like to stay up until 3:00am.

The Eta-Aquarid Meteor Shower will be peaking this upcoming weekend.  It is an early morning shower that is difficult to see as the morning twilight might eat a lot of the meteors.  Another problem will be a waning gibbous Moon will add to the light pollution this year.  This is typically a shower for those in the Southern Hemisphere.  The chart below shows the expected rate based on where you live.

City	Suburbs	Rural	Optimal
3	5	10	60

The radiant can be located in the 'Y' shape asterism within Aquarius as shown below.

Eta-Aquarid Radiant

The final thing to mention for the week is probably the most exciting.  There will be a great astronomy activity at Ralph Klein Park.  There will be many great events happening inside the facility and we will be setup with telescopes and binoculars outside.  The Moon will not be polluting the view and we should catch some favourite constellations!  Come see Leo, Venus, Jupiter, Virgo, Gemini, Boötes, Ursa Major and Ursa Minor!  Information for this event can be found at the link below.

http://calgary.rasc.ca/rkp_2018a.htm

This is certainly one of my favourite events of the year.  The facility is beautiful!

Ralph Klein Park Learning Centre

I hope to see you there!  Until then, enjoy the clear, warm Spring evenings!