The sky scene, May 7 evening

The Moon passed north of Jupiter at 23 hours Universal Time (8 PM CDT).  It will pass Spica, the chief star of Virgo, tomorrow, and will be Full on May 10.

Enlarge the image as much as you can.  It is for the central USA, but would differ little for other longitudes, except for the fast-moving Moon, which is shown at twice its real size, and also at the corresponding times on the adjacent days.  Fainter stars and constellations may not be visible at this time, especially those low to the horizon.  Horizon, ecliptic, and celestial equator are all “great circles” and any one of them could be shown as a straight line; I choose to make the horizon slightly convex (in other words, the focus for the picture is 10° down) because it enhances the sensation that we are looking out from a spherical planet.  The broad arrow on the celestial equator shows how far (15°) the sky rotates in one hour.  The “Anti-Sun” is the direction outward from the Sun.

 

3 thoughts on “The sky scene, May 7 evening”

  1. Thanx for pointing out that we are also on a sphere.

    Speaking of spherical bodies, on page 4 / paragraph 3 of UE I think it should say, “(With the invisible moon now following it.)”

    1. At the end of the day, the sun sets first, and then the young moon follows. Likewise, the sun would rise first, and then the young moon.

      By the way, UE is a fascinating book.

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