May 3
The Hem of the Robe
Sun Position
The Sun is in Taurus at about +15.6° declination. Spring is well established in the Northern Hemisphere, with long afternoons; the Southern Hemisphere is settling into autumn's rhythm.
Sky Highlight
The Eta Aquariid shower continues to build. In years of darker skies and favorable geometry, observers in the Southern Hemisphere can expect 40–50 meteors per hour near peak; northern viewers typically see 10–30, mostly as earthgrazers skimming the horizon in the hour before dawn.
Deep Sky Object
M104 (NGC 4594), the Sombrero Galaxy, about 28 million light-years away, in Virgo. Its prominent dark dust lane, seen nearly edge-on, makes it one of the most recognizable galaxies in amateur astronomy. Visible in binoculars from dark sites; best for equatorial and southern observers, though well within reach from mid-northern latitudes.
Featured Star
Minelauva (δ Virginis) is the IAU's official name for the same star also called Auva, a red giant 202 light-years away, spectral class M3III. The name Minelauva is traced to a medieval Latin rendering of an Arabic phrase, an example of how the same star can carry two completely different naming lineages into the present day.
Around This Date
- May 3, 1952Walter Baade announced at a meeting of the International Astronomical Union that the distance scale of the universe was roughly twice what had previously been assumed, correcting a systematic error in the Cepheid period-luminosity relation.
- May 5, 1961Alan Shepard became the first American in space aboard Freedom 7, reaching an altitude of about 187 kilometers on a suborbital flight lasting just over 15 minutes.
Every star carries at least two names, like a person who moved and started over.