THE Lyrid meteor shower didn't put on much of a show, and the space station has now fled the evening sky until June, so what is there to look at?
Mars is still lovely and bright in the east after dark, looking like a beautiful orange star, and it is visible all night. Saturn now rises around midnight, following Mars, and while not as bright as the Red Planet it is still obvious to the naked eye. But at the end of the week a lovely thin crescent Moon will steal the show as it starts to climb up into the west after sunset, growing bigger and brighter each evening.
After sunset on Friday evening (May 2) look for a very slender crescent Moon just above the western horizon, way down to the lower right of bright Jupiter. On the following evening (3rd), the Moon will be closer to Jupiter, but still below it, and on Monday evening the two will be side by side in the twilight, a very striking sight indeed. Remember to use your binoculars to look for the lavendar-hued Earthshine glow on the dark part of the Moon while its crescent phase is still small.
Stuart Atkinson, Eddington Astronomical Society of Kendal
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