This Week’s Sky at a Glance, 2024 May 25 – June 1
This Week’s Sky at a Glance, 2024 May 25 – June 1
When Charley Pride sang “Snakes Crawl at Night” he wasn’t talking about the constellations, but he might as well have been. When twilight gives way to darkness there are two snakes stretching nearly halfway across the sky. The first is Hydra the female water snake, which is also the largest constellation. It is so long it takes eight hours to rise completely. At 11 pm these evenings it stretches along the horizon with its head in the west and its tail to the south. In this position the snake takes only three hours to nestle underground
Almost as long but more U-shaped is Serpens, the only constellation that is in two parts, separated by Ophiuchus the Serpent Bearer. The western half is called Serpens Caput, the head of the snake, and the eastern half is the tail, Serpens Cauda. Ophiuchus represents Asclepius, a son of Apollo, who learned the healing arts by watching a snake bring another back to life. The Rod of Asclepius, a snake entwined around a staff, is the symbol of medicine and health.
If you like things in threes you can look at serpentine Draco as a snake instead of a dragon. Its tail begins above the bowl of the Big Dipper, with the body curling around the Little Dipper before arcing back toward the foot of Hercules. If that doesn’t suit you then you can go Down Under to see Hydrus the male water snake slithering around the south celestial pole.
This Week in the Solar System
Saturday’s sunrise is at 5:44 and sunset will occur at 8:58, giving 15 hours, 14 minutes of daylight. Next Saturday the Sun will rise at 5:39 and set at 9:05, giving 15 hours, 26 minutes of daylight.
The Moon is at third quarter on Thursday and near Saturn Friday morning. This week all seven planets are lined up from east to southeast in the morning sky, but don’t expect to see many of them. This weekend Venus rises just five minutes before the Sun and by next weekend they rise together. Jupiter precedes the Sun by ten minutes but that stretches to 27 over the week. Mercury beats the Sun by 45-40 minutes while brightening and passing Uranus. Mars and Saturn are up two and three hours before the Sun, respectively, with dim Neptune 1/3 of the way between them from Saturn. Early risers could probably see Mars and Saturn unaided before 4:30 but getting Neptune would be difficult with a manual (as opposed to a computerized) telescope. The others rise in civil twilight but seeing Mercury might be possible with large binoculars.
On Sunday evening at 8 pm, tune in to the Sunday Night Astronomy Show via the Facebook page or YouTube channel of Astronomy by the Bay.