May stargazing

There's a blur

in the sky

on the glass

in your eye

Are they aliens?

Or family?

May Stargazing

Closing In
Hubble Space Telescope snapped this image of Comet ISON on April 10, when the comet was 394 million miles from the Sun. The comet will pass less than one million miles from the Sun in late November.

Texas Legislature Honors Observatory's 75th AnniversaryOn April 23, the Texas House of Representatives and Senate honored The University of Texas at Austin's McDonald Observatory for 75 years of discovery. The observatory's 75th anniversary is coming up in May 2014.

Venus returns to evening skies this month, shining as the "evening star" quite low in the west at nightfall by month's end. By that time, its only rival in the night sky, brilliant Jupiter, is dropping toward the Sun and getting ready to exit the evening sky. In the meantime, one of the signature constellations of summer, Scorpius, skitters into view in late evening, preceded by the scorpion's long-lost claws, the stars of Libra, the balance scales.

More stargazing information »

Support StarDate: Help us keep our date with the stars by making a tax-deductible donation to StarDate. If you give $20 or more, we'll send you a digital copy of our Sky Almanac 2013, full of stargazing tips and other timely info for the entire year.

May 1-5: Stars galore. The skies of a neighborhood a few thousand light-years from our own are filled with a bounty of stars, and we'll tell you why. We'll also tell you about some models of our own solar system and much more.

May 6-12: Recalibrating. It takes a lot of work to compare observations of stars and galaxies made many years apart — even if they're made from the same telescope. This series of StarDate radio programs May 6-8 profiling the work of Texas astronomer Fritz Benedict and colleagues will explain why astronomers never throw away old observations, and why they must constantly recalibrate telescopes to keep their observations consistent.

May 13-19: Blasts from the past. We'll peer into the history of astronomy and space exploration this week with tales of two missions, plus a man who gave us a whole new set of constellations. Join us for this, plus a look at the celestial strongman.

May 20-26: Moon meanderings. The Moon passes a bright star and an even brighter planet this week. It also starts a new cycle of eclipses — one that will last for almost 13 centuries. Join us for this plus a meeting of three planets in the evening sky.

May 27-31: Evening encounter. Venus and Jupiter, the brightest planets in the night sky, swing past each other early this week, while a slightly fainter third planet looks on. Join us for this plus the beautiful northern celestial crown.

May program schedule »

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In our May/June issue, StarDate brings you feature-length excerpts from new books in astronomy. In Paul Murdin's Are We Being Watched? find out why he thinks ET will be found in this century. William H. Waller explains how why we think we know our galaxy's shape from our place inside it in The Milky Way. And find out how one physicist is trying to change how scientists see time in Lee Smolin's Time Reborn.

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Wherever your summer travels take you, use the StarDate Telescopes Guide to find an observatory, planetarium, astronomy club, or other group that offers views of the night sky through a telescope. We've added more than 40 locations to our listings, bringing the total to 75, spread across most of the states, from Maine to Hawaii. Many are free, while others charge only a nominal fee.

View the Guide »

We've expanded the StarDate Black Hole Encyclopedia with profiles of a galaxy with an unusually "fat" black hole at its center, another in which two black holes are merging to make one, and a small black hole that recently ate a small but spectacular snack.

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