TRAC Action Plan: May 2024
- Category: Action Plans
- Author: JM
- Published: 03 May 2024
- Last updated: 07 May 2024
Our Journey Around the Sun
Can you believe we are already a third of the way through the year?
That means we've travelled roughly a third of the way around the Sun since Christmas. During that time, the Earth has covered a distance of approximately 195 million miles (313 million km).
What changes have you noticed in everyday life as a consequence of the Earth's orbit around the Sun? Can you explain why these changes occur?
The Earth whizzes around the Sun at an average orbital speed of roughly 66,620 mph (107,200 km/h). That's pretty speedy! Does it feel like you're moving that fast through space?
Seasonal Stargazing
The familiar winter constellations we've gotten used to seeing over the past six months are now out of sight by the time it gets dark.
If you were to go outside on a few consecutive clear nights and carefully record the positions of a couple of bright stars at the same time each night, you'd notice that they appear to move westward at a rate of roughly one degree per night. Can you think of what causes this to happen?
The iconic spring constellation of Leo (the Lion) will be a good one to take a closer look at. It's one of the few star patterns that actually resembles what it's supposed to be: a magnificent lion stretched across the sky!
Astronomical Darkness
We're reaching that time of year when it's staying lighter for much longer in the evening. That's welcome news for most people, but not for us astronomers; our chance to observe the night sky is getting shorter with every passing night!
At the start of May, sunset (when the Sun disappears below the horizon) is at 20.30, and it already doesn't get completely dark until around 11 p.m.
Twilight is the time between day and night when the Sun is below the horizon but its light is still able to brighten the sky. In astronomy, nighttime officially begins when the centre of the Sun is 18 degrees below the horizon at sea level. It marks the start of astronomical darkness.
By the end of May, the sky will never get really dark here in Rainham, even in the early hours of the morning. Due to the Earth's tilt, the Sun never gets low enough below the horizon at our latitude (51.5° N) in June and July.
Over the summer months, we can instead switch our attention to some daytime astronomy activities.
Daytime Astronomy
Astronomy is mainly a nighttime activity, yet there's still a lot to see during the daytime, too. The telescope can be used as a spotting scope, like the sort used by bird watchers, just with a far higher magnification power.
We'll have to be extremely careful not to look anywhere near the Sun for the time being, until the solar filter is renewed and checked thoroughly. Perhaps we'll be able to carry out some solar observations later this year.
We can point the telescope across the river and check out what they're up to on the Isle of Grain. If we look east, we might be able to see those enormous wind turbines on the Isle of Sheppey. Where do you think would be the best vantage point for us to get a clear view of those targets?
Another fun daytime astronomy activity is to build our own pinhole camera, a simple device for focusing light rays. And all we need is a cardboard box, paper, and aluminium foil!
Pinhole Camera
Have you ever projected an image of the Sun onto a sheet of paper?
We can build our own basic camera to do just that! Then, by carefully measuring the size of the projected image, we can use a mathematical relationship to calculate an estimate of the diameter of the Sun!
As with most Astronomy Club activities, this will be highly experimental!
It'll be interesting to see just how close our estimation is to the Sun's actual diameter, as measured by professional astrophysicists using the latest high-precision devices and advanced measurement techniques.
Lunar Observations
May 2024 Lunar Calendar
- Last Quarter Wed 01
- New Moon Wed 08
- First Quarter Wed 15
- Full Moon Thu 23
- Last Quarter Thu 30
Please refer to the April Action Plan! The best time for us to see some satellites is an hour or so after sunset, around the date of the new moon.
I think it'd be interesting to take a look at the Moon during the day, too, just out of curiosity. It will be high in the early evening sky near the middle of the month. We can take some photos and use them to compare how the Moon's surface appears during the day and at night.
Planets
We won't be able to see any planets in May. I know, I feel the sadness, too!
Planets such as Jupiter and Uranus are now on the opposite side of the Sun from the Earth, so they're completely out of view at night.
Planets such as Mercury and Venus also appear very close to the Sun from our perspective on Earth and are therefore lost in the Sun's glare.
But do not despair! We'll get some better opportunities to see more planets, like Mars and Saturn, towards the end of the summer and into the autumn and winter months.
Weather Conditions
I've checked the forecast for the May bank holiday weekend, and I'm sure you will be shocked to hear that it's not looking great!
The weather since October 2023 has been terrible. We've only had four really clear nights so far this year, most of them in January. Online, many seasoned UK amateur astronomers are saying how this year has had some of the worst weather for astronomy in the past few decades, so we're not alone in feeling frustrated with all those pesky clouds.
Website Development
Several additions have been made to the website. Andrei has written a couple of paragraphs for the ‘About Us' section, and I've added a few links to the astronomical weather forecast websites. We can also add some links to other useful websites, like the Stellarium free planetarium, etc.
Further down, there's an image showing the weather forecast for the next two nights, along with a chart showing the annual darkness for Rainham.
Designing the website could be a good summer project for any Computer Science students who are looking to put their HTML and web page creation skills into practice.
Summary
It's beginning to feel like a long time since we last took the telescope out. This month, we've got the bank holiday weekend and the spring half-term break, so there should be a few opportunities to at least do some daytime astronomy activities. Hopefully, we'll get some clear nights as well.
With a month like we've just had, there's nowhere to go but up from here!
James M
TRAC Team Leader
03 May 2024 – Rainham, Kent
TRAC is an amateur astronomy group based in Rainham (Kent) in the United Kingdom.
On clear nights, you'll find us outside, observing stars, planets, moons, galaxies, satellites, meteors, and comets.
This action plan is specifically tailored for our location, schedules, optical equipment, level of experience, personal interests, and local sky conditions.
Unless stated otherwise, all magnitude values refer to apparent magnitude and have usually been rounded to one decimal place.
We welcome any questions, feedback, or suggestions you may have. Please let us know if anything is unclear or if you notice an error, inaccuracy, or typo. Contact us via email.
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