May 7
The Serpent's Neck
Sun Position
The Sun is in Taurus at about +17.0° declination. Northern spring days are long and the Sun sets noticeably to the northwest. Southern Hemisphere sunsets move progressively earlier.
Sky Highlight
The Eta Aquariid shower winds down through the second week of May, but stray fast meteors from the stream are still possible on any clear pre-dawn morning. As the shower fades, the deep spring sky (rich with galaxies in Virgo, Coma Berenices, and Canes Venatici) takes center stage.
Deep Sky Object
M63 (NGC 5055), the Sunflower Galaxy, about 27 million light-years away, in Canes Venatici. Its tightly wound spiral arms give it a distinctive textured appearance in telescopes, and its surface brightness is high enough to make it a good target even through light-polluted skies. Northern and equatorial observers have the best altitude.
Featured Star
Unukalhai (α Serpentis) is an orange giant 73 light-years away, spectral class K2IIIb, and the brightest star in Serpens, the only constellation in the sky that is divided into two separate halves, Serpens Caput (the head) and Serpens Cauda (the tail), with Ophiuchus in between. Its Arabic name means 'the neck of the snake.'
Around This Date
- May 7, 1992Space Shuttle Endeavour, on its maiden voyage, successfully retrieved the Intelsat VI satellite and re-deployed it with a new perigee motor, the first three-person spacewalk in history.
- May 9, 1866Italian astronomer Giovanni Schiaparelli confirmed the association between meteor showers and cometary debris by linking the Perseid shower to Comet Swift-Tuttle, a foundational insight in meteor science.
The snake's brightest star sits at the neck, close enough to touch, astronomically speaking.