We have a beautiful full moon early this morning which is currently in the west when I write this at 4:30 am.
Venus, the brightest of the planets, will appear as the Evening Star about 19 degrees above the horizon in the west-northwest. None of the brightest stars will appear directly overhead; the nearest to overhead will be Regulus, appearing about 59 degrees above the south-southwestern horizon. As this lunar cycle progresses, Venus and the background of stars will appear to shift toward the west. Venus will dim as it moves closer to Earth but becomes more of a crescent (when viewed through a telescope). Venus was at its greatest brilliancy (a geometric approximation of its greatest brightness) on April 28, 2020. When Venus is near its brightest, if the weather is clear and you know where to look, you may be able to see it during the day.
After Friday, May 8, 2020, the planet Mercury will begin emerging from the glow of dusk on the west-northwestern horizon (depending upon viewing conditions) about 30 minutes after sunset. Mercury will begin appearing above the horizon at the time evening twilight ends around Saturday, May 16, 2020. Venus and Mercury will appear nearest to each other on Thursday evening, May 21, 2020, with Venus about 5 degrees above the horizon in the west-northwest and Mercury below Venus at about 4 degrees above the horizon.
By Tuesday, May 26, 2020, Venus will have already set by the time evening twilight ends but should remain bright enough to be visible about 30 minutes after sunset for the next few evenings. On Saturday, May 30, 2020, Mercury will appear at its highest above the horizon as evening twilight ends (about 6.5 degrees in the west-northwest), after which it will appear to gradually shift closer to the horizon each evening. Venus will pass between Earth and the Sun on Wednesday, June 3, and will begin to emerge from the glow of dawn later in June.
By the evening of the full Moon on Friday, June 5, 2020, as evening twilight ends the planet Mercury will appear about 6 degrees above the horizon in the west-northwest. The bright star appearing nearest to directly overhead will be Arcturus, appearing 68 degrees above the horizon in the south-southeast. Also near to directly overhead will be the constellation Ursa Major, also known as the Great Bear or the Big Dipper.
On the morning of the full Moon on Thursday, May 7, 2020, at the time morning twilight begins (at 4:58 a.m. EDT for the Washington, D.C. area), the three planets Jupiter, Saturn and Mars will appear in the southeastern sky. The brightest of the three, Jupiter, will appear in the south-southeast at about 28 degrees above the horizon. The dimmest of the three, Saturn, will appear about 5 degrees to the left of Jupiter. Mars, slightly brighter than Saturn, will appear in the southeast at about 22 degrees above the horizon. The bright star appearing nearly directly overhead will be Vega, one of the three stars in the “Summer Triangle.” As the lunar cycle progresses, Jupiter, Saturn and the background of stars will appear to shift toward the west, while Mars will appear to shift more slowly.
On the morning of Tuesday, May 12, 2020, the waning gibbous Moon will appear below Jupiter. On the next morning, the Moon will appear to the lower left of Saturn. On the morning of Friday, May 15, the waning crescent Moon will appear to the lower left of Mars. Although Jupiter and Saturn will appear about 5 degrees apart throughout this lunar cycle, they will appear at their closest to each other on the morning of Monday, May 18, 2020. By the morning of the full Moon on Friday, June 5, 2020, as morning twilight begins Jupiter and Saturn will appear in the south, about 5 degrees apart (Jupiter on the right), at about 30 degrees above the horizon. Mars will appear in the southeast at about 29 degrees above the horizon. The bright star appearing closest to overhead (82 degrees above the northeastern horizon) will be Deneb, another of the three stars in the “Summer Triangle.”
Two meteor showers are expected to peak in early May when the light of the nearly full Moon will interfere with visibility.
In late December 2019, the Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System (ATLAS) detected a comet that looked like it might put on a good show in May 2020. However, it appears Comet C/2019 Y4 (ATLAS) broke up in late March and now the pieces are not expected to be visible without a telescope.
Thank God we have a responsible, smart, and thoughtful Governor! Keep listening to the scientists and continue to make data driven decisions!! Whitmer you Rock!
Stores are filled streets are full people outside not sure how many are really staying home anymore ..60% of the stay home people who ended up in the hospitals in New York had the Crona Virus! ..INDY
Chicago is now one of the new “hot” spots. And while it has not reach extreme levels here in GR the numbers are still heading up. I would think that mask and gloves and 6 feet apart are going to be with us for some time. For the ones on lay off just wait until their benefits run out. Even when things “open-up” there will still be a lot of people not working. And you know a lot of businesses will go bankrupt just because now they have a real good reason to, think Art Van they were just ahead… Read more »
Michigan’s unemployment rate is somewhere between 20-25% right now.
Those facts are EXACTLY WHY THE STAY AT HOME ORDER NEEDS TO STAY IN EFFECT!
More people are out. Demand for oil is going back up as reflected on the gas prices going back up.
My question to the garderners on here…do you think raspberry plants that are green with leaves, but no berries need to be covered this weeknd? I will be covering strawberries & rhubarb? Thanks in advance. Trying to plan ahead.
For anyone who reads Bill’s blog in his post he has the biggest May snow fall at Grand Rapids as being on May 9th 1927 well it was on May 9th but not 1927 it was in 1923. On May 9th 1927 the high in Grand Rapids was 84. Note he may change the date to the correct one.
Slim
Thanks for the night sky info MV! We have had some great star gazing nights the past week or so. My daughter is wrapping up her high school astronomy class, online of course, and has found it fascinating to go out at night and view the objects she’s been studying.
Keep this below average weather coming it’s beautiful with the sun shining crisp and cool all the way to September yes eventually it’s going to warm up like Slim says it has to it’s May! this will be good help take down the virus and just in time for the rest of the Michigan open back up in full summer force… On a crazy thought mokkie will like this we are a month and a half away from Summer solace and we are still talking about snow showers in the forecast yup long Winter weather it has been … Shuuuuu..Have… Read more »
It was a perfect mild and snow less winter. Even had below average snow in April too. I love it!
I love these long winters! November to May! Wow!
LOL That’s horrible logic. I guess I could say summer lasts early April to October then since we hit 75 degrees April 7th.
Wow record breaking cold and possible snow is coming! Absolutely incredible! What a cold Spring so far! Below normal temps are ruling!
What happened to the possible 2-4″ of snow? Whoops! So sad!
We will have to see just how cold it really gets on Friday and for the next several days after. At this time a high of 43 per the NWS is in the forecast for tomorrow. The record coldest maximum for May 8th is 41 set in 1947 when a trace of snow was also reported. In 2nd place is 44 set in 1974 in 3rd place 47 set in 1945 and in 4th place is 48 set in 1960. The low for tomorrow night is foretasted to be 27. The record low at Grand Rapids is a cold 23… Read more »
Through the first 6 days of May, GR has seen an average high of 64 degrees and averaged 75% of total sunshine. It’s been absolutely perfect!
I can’t believe some are complaining about this weather. All the gloom and doom forecasts for this week have been way off (at one time, WOOD had us in the 40’s for most of this week).
Well the NWS still seems to think that there will be record cold this weekend. And there could be some serious fruit crop damage depending on how cold it gets So while it may be clear and I don’t think we will see any snow they still think it will be cold. By hey it is May so it will warm up later I don’t see how it can’t.
Slim
It is clear and 39 here at this time. While in the SW it is record heat (could we see that later in the summer?) here in our area there is some record cold on the way and it will not be pretty. This is from the GRR NWS this AM ” TEMPERATURES ARE FORECAST TO DROP INTO THE MID TO UPPER 20S AREA WIDE. FRUIT TREES IN OUR SOUTHWEST AREAS, FROM GRR TO THE SOUTH AND WEST ARE MOST SUSCEPTIBLE TO THE COLD AS THESE ARE THE ZONES THAT HAVE THE FURTHEST DEVELOPMENT. THE FREEZE WARNING IS FOR ALL… Read more »
I love this time of year. The weather has been spectacular. No furnace or A/C results in inexpensive utility bills. I just may take the boy to the golf course this afternoon. It will depend on if he gets his schoolwork done or not. Have a fantastic day!
Not quite in the “don’t have to” time just yet. As it is now clear and 39 here. I just turned the heat on to take the chill out of the house before heading over to Meijer.
Slim
I haven’t had to turn on my furnace in a week. Love it!
Good for you!!!!!
Slim