Bob Moler's Ephemeris Blog

This is Bob Moler with Ephemeris for Monday, May 15th. Today the Sun will be up for 14 hours and 49 minutes, setting at 9:04, and it will rise tomorrow at 6:13. The Moon, 3 days past last quarter, will rise at 4:47 tomorrow morning.

The small constellation of Corvus the crow is located low in the south at 10:30 this evening. It’s made of 6 dim stars, the pattern is a distinctive but distorted box with two stars in the upper left corner and two stars in the lower right corner. To the right is a fainter constellation of a thick stemmed goblet called Crater. Both appear above the long constellation of Hydra, the water snake who is slithering above the southern horizon. In Greek mythology Corvus, then white, was the god Apollo’s pet who once bid the crow to take a cup and fetch him some water. Corvus, however, dallied and waited for a green fig to ripen. Corvus then grabbed a snake and returned with a story on how the snake had delayed him. The angry Apollo saw through the story and turned the crow black.

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

Corvus, Crater and Hydra finder chart. The chart was made for earlier in the month, so when it’s dark enough to see them, the constellations will have shifted to the west or right. Created using Stellarium and GIMP.