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[Energetic music]

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[Preston Dyches]
What’s Up for May?

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Four bright planets,
morning and night,

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a chance of meteor showers,

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and waiting for a nova.

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For planet watching this month,

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you'll find Mars and Jupiter
in the west following sunset.

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Mars sticks around
for several hours

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after it gets dark,

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but Jupiter is setting
by 9:30 or 10 p.m.,

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and getting lower
in the sky each day.

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The first quarter Moon

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appears right next to the
Red Planet on the 3rd.

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Find them in the west
during the first half

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of the night that evening.

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In the morning sky,

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Venus and Saturn are the planets
to look for in May.

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They begin the month appearing
close together on the sky,

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and progressively pull farther
apart as the month goes on.

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For several days
in late May,

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early risers will enjoy a
gathering of the Moon

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with Saturn and Venus
in the eastern sky before dawn.

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Watch as the Moon passes
the two planets

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while becoming an increasingly
slimmer crescent.

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You'll find the Moon hanging
between Venus and Saturn

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on the 23rd.

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Early May brings the annual

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Eta Aquarid
meteor shower.

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These are meteors that originate
from Comet Halley.

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Earth passes through the comet’s
dust stream each May,

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and again in October.

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Eta Aquarids are fast moving,
and a lot of them produce

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persistent dust
trains that linger

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for seconds after the
meteor’s initial streak.

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This is one of the best

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annual showers
in the Southern Hemisphere,

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but tends to be more subdued
North of the Equator,

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where we typically see
10-20 meteors per hour.

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On the peak night this year,
the Moon sets by around 3 a.m.,

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leaving dark skies until dawn,
for ideal viewing conditions.

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While the peak is early
on the morning of May 6th,

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the two or three nights

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before that are also
decent opportunities

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to spy a few shooting stars.

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Astronomers have been
waiting expectantly for light

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from a distant explosion
to reach us here on Earth.

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An event called a nova

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is anticipated to occur
sometime in the coming months.

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Some 3,000 light-years away
is a binary star system called

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T Coronae Borealis, or “T CrB.”

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It consists of a red giant star

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with a smaller white dwarf
star orbiting closely around it.

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Now the giant’s outer
atmosphere is all puffed up,

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and the dwarf star
is close enough

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that its gravity
continually captures

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some of the giant’s hydrogen.

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About every 80 years,
the white dwarf has accumulated

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so much of the
other star’s hydrogen,

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that it ignites
a thermonuclear explosion.

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And that’s the nova.

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T Coronae Borealis
is located in the constellation

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Corona Borealis,
or the “Northern Crown,”

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and it’s normally far too faint
to see with the unaided eye.

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But it's predicted
the nova will be as bright

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as the constellation’s
brightest star,

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which is about as bright
as the North Star, Polaris.

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You’ll find Corona Borealis
right in between

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the two bright stars
Arcturus and Vega.

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You can use the
Big Dipper’s handle

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to point you to the
right part of the sky.

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Try having a look for it

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on clear, dark nights
before the nova,

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so you’ll have a comparison

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when a new star suddenly
becomes visible there.

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Now, you may have heard about
this months ago, as astronomers

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started keeping
watch for the nova

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midway through 2024,

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but it hasn't happened yet.

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Predicting exactly when novas

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or any sort of stellar
outburst will happen

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is tricky,

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but excitement began growing 

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when astronomers
observed the star 

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to dim suddenly,
much as it did

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right before its previous
nova in 1946.

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When the nova
finally does occur,

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it won't stay bright for long,

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likely flaring in peak
brightness for only a few days.

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And since it's not predicted
again for another 80 years,

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you might just want to join
the watch for this super rare,

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naked eye stellar
explosion in the sky!

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Here are the phases
of the Moon for May.

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You can stay up to date
on all of NASA's missions

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exploring the solar system
and beyond at science.nasa.gov.

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I'm Preston Dyches from NASA's
Jet Propulsion Laboratory,

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and that's
What's Up for this month.