The Night Sky This Month

Northern HemisphereIan Morison tells us what we can see in the Northern Hemisphere night sky during May 2018.The PlanetsJupiter - Jupiter reaches opposition on May 8th, so will be visible all night. It shines at magnitude -2.5 and has a disk some 44 arc seconds across throughout the month. Jupiter's equatorisl bands and sometimes the Great Red Spot (see 'highlights' for the times when it crosses Jupiter's central meridian) and up to four of its Gallilean moons will be visible in a small telescope. Sadly, lying in Libra during the month, Jupiter is heading towards the southern part of the ecliptic and will only have an elevation of ~20 degrees when crossing the meridian. Atmospheric dispersion will thus hinder our view and it might be worth considering purchasing the ZWO Atmospheric Dispersion Corrector to counteract its effects. Saturn - Saturn, now well into its new apparition, rises at around midnight on the first of May and a couple of hours earlier by month's end. With an angular size of ~17.5 arc seconds