Looking for a sky event this week? Check out our full Sky This Week column.
May 1: Catch Saturn before sunrise
Venus dominates the evening sky, blazing at magnitude –3.9 in northern Taurus. This evening as the Bull sinks toward the western horizon after sunset, Venus is 6.5° north of Aldebaran, often pictured as Taurus’ bright red eye and the constellation’s alpha star. Shining at magnitude 0.9, Aldebaran lies surrounded by the Hyades open cluster — but not a part of it. The two are simply superimposed on the sky.
Some 67 light-years away, Aldebaran is an aging star that is cooler than the Sun, hence its notable orangey-red color. Tonight, it forms the base of a triangle along with the Pleiades star cluster to its lower right, with bright Venus as the apex.
Uranus is also located in Taurus, though you’ll have to be quick if you want to catch it before it sinks too close to the horizon. You can find it with binoculars or a telescope, glowing at magnitude 5.8 some 4.1° south of Alcyone (Eta [η] Tauri) in the Pleiades. Its disk is just 3” wide, and will likely appear as a “flat,” grayish-hued star.
Also use those optics to peer at Venus — after Uranus sets, you’ve still got plenty of time! The much brighter planet appears some 87 percent lit and 12” across.
Sunrise: 5:59 A.M.
Sunset: 7:56 P.M.
Moonrise: 9:25 P.M.
Moonset: 6:02 A.M.
Moon Phase: Waning gibbous (98%)
*Times for sunrise, sunset, moonrise, and moonset are given in local time from 40° N 90° W. The Moon’s illumination is given at 10 P.M. local time from the same location.
