May 2002

By Steve Stefanik

During the first two weeks in the month of May you’ll get to marvel the best conjunction of the five classical planets Mercury, Venus, Mars, Saturn and Jupiter in almost 20 years. To view the magnificent display, simply find a place with an unobstructed view of the northwestern horizon 45 minutes to an hour after sundown. You won’t need binoculars or a telescope, only your eyes.

The action begins with the planet Mercury rising to meet the planet Venus. The two are only separated by 5.8 degrees on May 1^st. Venus is the first to appear gleaming at –4.0 magnitude with 0 magnitude Mercury slightly lower and to the right of Venus. Mercury reaches greatest elongation from the sun on the 4^th and begins to sink back toward the horizon with each passing day however.

The planets Saturn and Mars join Venus from May 3^rd to the 10^th all within a 5 degree circle. Venus is the brightest, Saturn is next at +0.1 magnitude and Mars is the dimmest at +1.6 magnitude. On May 6^th the trio will be as close as they will get forming a 2.8 degree triangle with Mercury just 7 degrees to the lower right. During the next four days until the 10^th, they move in formation with Venus rising higher and Saturn and Mars moving lower on their way to setting by month’s end.

A new thin waxing crescent moon joins the celestial celebration on the evening of the 13^th lower and to the left of Mercury on the same night of their minimum separation spanning a mere 33 degrees along the ecliptic. On the following night the moon slides slightly higher to within three moon widths below Venus, which is within 2.4 degrees of Mars. On the evening of the 15^th the moon will be halfway between Venus and Jupiter and the next evening it will be 7 degrees east of the –1.9 magnitude gas giant.

By the end of the month the two brightest planets, Venus and Jupiter, will be only 4 degrees apart. It will be almost impossible to miss them.

The only planets that will not be part of the scenario are Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto. Neptune rises at midnight in the constellation Capricorn. Uranus rises about an hour later in the constellation Aquarius. Pluto is a month away from opposition.