May 1
The Guard Who Never Sets
Sun Position
The Sun is in Taurus. Its declination is about +15°, placing it well north of the celestial equator. Northern Hemisphere days run roughly 14 hours long and lengthening; southern days are noticeably shorter as autumn deepens.
Sky Highlight
May opens inside the broad annual activity window of the Eta Aquariid meteor shower, active from late April through mid-May. Debris from Halley's Comet streams into Earth's atmosphere; the shower favors Southern Hemisphere observers, where the radiant in Aquarius rises high before dawn, but northern viewers can still catch fast-moving earthgrazers low in the southeast in the pre-dawn hours.
Deep Sky Object
M3 (NGC 5272), globular cluster, about 34,000 light-years away, in Canes Venatici. One of the finest globular clusters in the northern sky, containing roughly half a million stars and visible as a fuzzy fourth-magnitude patch in binoculars. Best from northern latitudes; southern observers see it low but still worthwhile.
Featured Star
Pherkad (γ Ursae Minoris) is a white giant 487 light-years away, spectral class A3II-III, and one of the two 'Guardians of the Pole' that circle Polaris through the night without ever touching the horizon for most northern observers. It turns slowly above the pole like a wheel that never stops.
Around This Date
- May 1, 1949Gerard Kuiper announced the discovery of Nereid, Neptune's irregular moon, from observations made at McDonald Observatory, the second moon of Neptune to be found.
- May 3, 1715Edmond Halley successfully predicted and observed a total solar eclipse visible across England, demonstrating that eclipse paths could be calculated in advance with precision.
The guards circle the pole all night, indifferent to the season.