Home > Ephemeris Program, Month preview, Observing > 04/29/2022 – Ephemeris – Previewing the skies of May 2022

04/29/2022 – Ephemeris – Previewing the skies of May 2022

April 29, 2022

This is Bob Moler with Ephemeris for Arbor Day, Friday, April 29th. Today the Sun will be up for 14 hours and 9 minutes, setting at 8:45, and it will rise tomorrow at 6:34. The Moon, 1 day before new, will rise at 6:36 tomorrow morning.

Let’s look at the month of May’s skies. Daylight hours in the Interlochen/Traverse City area will increase from 14 hours and 15 minutes this Sunday the 1st to 15 hours 19 minutes on May 31st. The altitude, or angle, of the Sun above the southern horizon at local noon will ascend from 60 degrees Sunday to 67 degrees at month’s end. The altitude of the Sun in the Straits area will be a degree lower than that but your length of daylight will be a few minutes longer. Local apparent noon this month, when the Sun passes due south, will be about 1:38 p.m. The Eta Aquariid meteor shower will reach its peak about 3 a.m. on the 5th. The big event this month will be a total eclipse of the Moon starting late Sunday evening the 15th.

The astronomical event times given are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan (EDT, UT – 4 hours). They may be different for your location.

Addendum

May Evening Star Chart

May 2022 Evening Star Chart

Star Chart for May 2022 (11 p.m. EDT May 15, 2022). Click on image to enlarge. Created using my LookingUp program. Click on image to enlarge. Created using my LookingUp program.

The planets and stars are plotted for the 15th at 11 p.m. EDT in the evening and 4 a.m. for the morning chart. These are the chart times. Note that Traverse City is located approximately 45 minutes behind our time meridian, West 75° longitude. (An hour 45 minutes behind our daylight saving time meridian during EDT). To duplicate the star positions on a planisphere you may have to set it to 1 hour 45 minutes earlier than the current time.
Note the chart times of 11 p.m. and 4 a.m. are for the 15th. For each week before the 15th add ½ hour (28 minutes if you’re picky). For each week after the 15th subtract ½ hour, or 28 minutes. The planet positions are updated each Wednesday on this blog. For planet positions on dates other than the 15th, check the Wednesday planet posts on this blog for weekly positions.

May Morning Star Chart

Star Chart May 2022 Morning

Star Chart for May mornings, 2022 (4 a.m. EDT, May 15, 2022). Click on image to enlarge. Created using my LookingUp program.

For a list of constellation names to go with the abbreviations click here.

  • Pointer stars at the front of the bowl of the Big Dipper point to Polaris the North Star.
  • Leaky dipper drips on Leo
  • Follow the arc of the handle of the Big Dipper to the star Arcturus, and
  • Extend like a spike to Spica,
  • EaqR is the radiant of the Eta Aquariid meteor shower that peaks on the 6th.

Twilight Limits, Nautical and Astronomical

EDT
Morning Twilight Evening Twilight Dark Night Moon
Date Astro. Nautical Nautical Astro. Start End Illum.
2021-05-01 4h40m 5h24m 22h02m 22h47m 22h47m 1h35m 0.67
2021-05-02 4h38m 5h23m 22h04m 22h49m 22h49m 2h32m 0.57
2021-05-03 4h36m 5h21m 22h05m 22h51m 22h51m 3h17m 0.46
2021-05-04 4h33m 5h19m 22h07m 22h53m 22h53m 3h52m 0.36
2021-05-05 4h31m 5h17m 22h09m 22h55m 22h55m 4h20m 0.27
2021-05-06 4h29m 5h16m 22h10m 22h57m 22h57m 4h29m 0.18
2021-05-07 4h27m 5h14m 22h12m 22h59m 22h59m 4h27m 0.11
2021-05-08 4h25m 5h12m 22h13m 23h01m 23h01m 4h25m 0.06
2021-05-09 4h23m 5h11m 22h15m 23h03m 23h03m 4h23m 0.02
2021-05-10 4h21m 5h09m 22h16m 23h05m 23h05m 4h21m 0
2021-05-11 4h19m 5h07m 22h18m 23h07m 23h07m 4h19m 0
2021-05-12 4h17m 5h06m 22h19m 23h09m 23h09m 4h17m 0.02
2021-05-13 4h15m 5h04m 22h21m 23h11m 23h11m 4h15m 0.05
2021-05-14 4h13m 5h03m 22h23m 23h13m – 4h13m 0.1
2021-05-15 4h11m 5h01m 22h24m 23h15m 0h07m 4h11m 0.17
2021-05-16 4h09m 5h00m 22h26m 23h17m 1h00m 4h09m 0.25
2021-05-17 4h07m 4h58m 22h27m 23h19m 1h46m 4h07m 0.34
2021-05-18 4h05m 4h57m 22h28m 23h21m 2h25m 4h05m 0.44
2021-05-19 4h03m 4h56m 22h30m 23h23m 2h58m 4h03m 0.54
2021-05-20 4h01m 4h54m 22h31m 23h24m 3h26m 4h01m 0.65
2021-05-21 4h00m 4h53m 22h33m 23h26m 3h51m 4h00m 0.76
2021-05-22 3h58m 4h52m 22h34m 23h28m – – 0.85
2021-05-23 3h56m 4h51m 22h36m 23h30m – – 0.92
2021-05-24 3h54m 4h49m 22h37m 23h32m – – 0.98
2021-05-25 3h53m 4h48m 22h38m 23h34m – – 1
2021-05-26 3h51m 4h47m 22h40m 23h36m – – 0.99
2021-05-27 3h49m 4h46m 22h41m 23h38m – – 0.95
2021-05-28 3h48m 4h45m 22h42m 23h39m 23h39m – 0.89
2021-05-29 3h46m 4h44m 22h43m 23h41m 23h41m 0h19m 0.81
2021-05-30 3h45m 4h43m 22h45m 23h43m 23h43m 1h11m 0.72
2021-05-31 3h44m 4h42m 22h46m 23h44m 23h44m 1h52m 0.61

The twilight calendar was generated using Cartes du Ciel (Sky Charts), with some corrections.

See my blog post: Twilight Zone for the definitions of the different periods of twilight here: https://bobmoler.wordpress.com/2018/09/27/.

NASA Calendar of Planetary Events

    Date     Time     Event
May  1  Su            Venus: 42.4° W
     1  Su   3:52 pm  Moon Ascending Node
     2  Mo  10:17 am  Moon-Mercury: 2° N
     5  Th   4:57 am  Uranus Conjunction
     5  Th   8:46 am  Moon Apogee: 405300 km
     5  Th  11:55 am  Moon North Dec.: 27° N
     6  Fr   4:00 am  Eta Aquarid Shower: ZHR = 60
     6  Fr   6:56 pm  Moon-Pollux: 2.3° N
     7  Sa   8:23 pm  Moon-Beehive: 4° S
     8  Su   8:21 pm  First Quarter
    15  Su   7:44 pm  Moon Descending Node
    16  Mo  12:11 am  Total Lunar Eclipse
    16  Mo  12:14 am  Full Flower Moon
    17  Tu  11:23 am  Moon Perigee: 360300 km
    18  We   9:21 pm  Moon South Dec.: 27° S
    21  Sa   3:14 pm  Mercury Inferior Conj.
    22  Su  12:43 am  Moon-Saturn: 4.6° N
    22  Su   2:43 pm  Last Quarter
    24  Tu   3:24 pm  Moon-Mars: 2.9° N
    24  Tu   7:59 pm  Moon-Jupiter: 3.4° N
    26  Th  10:52 pm  Moon-Venus: 0.2° N
    28  Sa  10:33 pm  Moon Ascending Node
    29  Su   4:57 am  Mars-Jupiter: 0.6° N
    30  Mo   7:30 am  New Moon
Jun  1  We            Venus: 36.5° W

Sky Events Calendar by Fred Espenak and Sumit Dutta (NASA’s GSFC),
http://eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/SKYCAL/SKYCAL.html.

Sun and Moon Rising and Setting Events

     LU                  Ephemeris of Sky Events for Interlochen/TC
May, 2022    Local time zone: EDT
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------+
| DATE |  SUN     SUN  DAYLIGHT|   TWILIGHT*    |MOON  RISE OR    ILLUM |
|      |  RISE    SET    HOURS |  END    START  |PHASE SET** TIME FRACTN|
+=======================================================================+
|Sun  1| 06:32a  08:47p  14:15 | 10:00p  05:20a |      Set  09:56p    1%|
|Mon  2| 06:31a  08:49p  14:17 | 10:01p  05:18a |      Set  11:02p    4%|
|Tue  3| 06:29a  08:50p  14:20 | 10:03p  05:17a |      Set  12:05a    9%|
|Wed  4| 06:28a  08:51p  14:23 | 10:04p  05:15a |      Set  01:03a   15%|
|Thu  5| 06:27a  08:52p  14:25 | 10:06p  05:13a |      Set  01:53a   23%|
|Fri  6| 06:25a  08:53p  14:28 | 10:08p  05:11a |      Set  02:35a   31%|
|Sat  7| 06:24a  08:55p  14:30 | 10:09p  05:10a |      Set  03:10a   40%|
+------+-----------------------+----------------+-----------------------+
|Sun  8| 06:23a  08:56p  14:33 | 10:11p  05:08a |F Qtr Set  03:39a   50%|
|Mon  9| 06:21a  08:57p  14:35 | 10:12p  05:06a |      Set  04:03a   60%|
|Tue 10| 06:20a  08:58p  14:38 | 10:14p  05:05a |      Set  04:25a   69%|
|Wed 11| 06:19a  08:59p  14:40 | 10:15p  05:03a |      Set  04:45a   79%|
|Thu 12| 06:18a  09:01p  14:43 | 10:17p  05:02a |      Set  05:06a   87%|
|Fri 13| 06:16a  09:02p  14:45 | 10:18p  05:00a |      Set  05:28a   93%|
|Sat 14| 06:15a  09:03p  14:47 | 10:20p  04:59a |      Set  05:53a   98%|
+------+-----------------------+----------------+-----------------------+
|Sun 15| 06:14a  09:04p  14:49 | 10:21p  04:57a |      Set  06:25a  100%|
|Mon 16| 06:13a  09:05p  14:52 | 10:23p  04:56a |Full  Rise 10:13p   99%|
|Tue 17| 06:12a  09:06p  14:54 | 10:24p  04:54a |      Rise 11:33p   95%|
|Wed 18| 06:11a  09:07p  14:56 | 10:26p  04:53a |      Rise 12:43a   89%|
|Thu 19| 06:10a  09:08p  14:58 | 10:27p  04:51a |      Rise 01:40a   80%|
|Fri 20| 06:09a  09:09p  15:00 | 10:29p  04:50a |      Rise 02:23a   70%|
|Sat 21| 06:08a  09:11p  15:02 | 10:30p  04:49a |      Rise 02:56a   59%|
+------+-----------------------+----------------+-----------------------+
|Sun 22| 06:07a  09:12p  15:04 | 10:32p  04:47a |L Qtr Rise 03:22a   48%|
|Mon 23| 06:06a  09:13p  15:06 | 10:33p  04:46a |      Rise 03:44a   37%|
|Tue 24| 06:05a  09:14p  15:08 | 10:34p  04:45a |      Rise 04:03a   27%|
|Wed 25| 06:05a  09:15p  15:10 | 10:36p  04:44a |      Rise 04:22a   18%|
|Thu 26| 06:04a  09:16p  15:11 | 10:37p  04:43a |      Rise 04:42a   11%|
|Fri 27| 06:03a  09:16p  15:13 | 10:38p  04:42a |      Rise 05:03a    6%|
|Sat 28| 06:02a  09:17p  15:15 | 10:39p  04:41a |      Rise 05:27a    2%|
+------+-----------------------+----------------+-----------------------+
|Sun 29| 06:02a  09:18p  15:16 | 10:41p  04:40a |      Rise 05:56a    0%|
|Mon 30| 06:01a  09:19p  15:18 | 10:42p  04:39a |New   Set  09:56p    0%|
|Tue 31| 06:00a  09:20p  15:19 | 10:43p  04:38a |      Set  10:56p    2%|
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------+
* Nautical Twilight
** Moonrise or moonset, whichever occurs between sunrise and sunset

Generated using my LookingUp for DOS program.

Categories: Ephemeris Program, Month preview, Observing Tags: