Monthly Archives: May 2020

Click image for full size version. Image: ESO/Francisco Nogueras Lara et al.

Countless stars fill the scene in this revealing infrared view of the central region of our Galaxy, the Milky Way. Its been imaged by the HAWK-I infrared camera on the Very Large Telescope in Chile. Infrared light permeates through the obscuring dust that fills the galaxy, allowing HAWK-I a clear insight into the interior. The bright region in the centre is home to the four-million-solar-mass black hole Sagittarius A*, but thats not what makes this image so special. Its part of a study of the history of the stars in the galactic centre.

Astronomers led by Rainer Schdel, of the Institute of Astrophysics of Andalusia, in Granada, in Spain, have found that 80 per cent of the stars now in the galactic centre were born between 8 and 13.5 billion years ago. Then, for a period starting eight billion years ago and lasting until just a billion years ago, very few stars at all were born in the galactic centre. Then, something dramatic must have happened, because Schdels team have found evidence for a starburst so intense that more than a hundred stars were being born every year, for a period lasting about 100 million years. These stars would have led to 100,000 supernovae in that period, rivalling the most extreme star-forming regions in the known Universe. Its not known what caused this acceleration in star formation perhaps it resulted from a minor collision with a huge gas cloud or dwarf galaxy, or something else entirely.

More here:

A hundred thousand supernovae - Astronomy Now Online

If you went out and were a great teacher, astronomy was probably one of your favorite subjects at school. By studying the moon, galaxies, comets, and everything in between, we call life and the happy universe for this little blue marble. However, the entertainment and excitement surrounding the study of space does not end as a child.

Although astronomy really attracts young people to science and technology, it also leads them on the path to a STEM career. However, there are many ways to study science outside of school as an amateur astronomer. There are also ways you can contribute to astronomy education and research from the comfort of your own home. However, we are moving beyond ourselves.

Astronomy holds a special place in the hearts of many people around the world. For the uninitiated, astronomy is simply the study of the sun, moon, stars, planets, comets, gas, galaxies, gas, dust, and other non-Earth bodies and phenomena.

From the beginning of time, humanity looked to the heavens, searched for patterns in celestial objects, explored the meaning and order of the surrounding universe. Astronomy sees itself while observing, while its closest cousin astrophysics focuses on the behavior, properties, and motion of objects there. However, it is good to mention that there may be an overlap between the two conditions.

The study of planets, galaxies and stars can be an excellent, exciting and imaginative experience, making astronomy a respected subject among children. As the philosopher Socrates once said, Man must move above the earth at the top of the atmosphere and beyond in the same way that he can only understand the world in which he lives.

When separating at home, there are many great resources and projects you can do from your backyard. All you need to do is enter the night sky. And, dont worry, there are some great astronomy projects for adults too. Today we are going to publish some of our favorite astronomy projects for people of all ages, projects that are perfect if you are stuck at home. Lets get started.

Astronomy Project Level: Initial

One of the best things to do is to look at the night sky for a while. For this project, all you need is a notebook, a note-taking pen and a smartphone or tablet. More than that, this is an excellent project of the night for people of all ages. While stargazing is nothing new, there are apps that are full of whats in the night sky, complete with 3D animation and educational content.

All you have to do is display your phone in the night sky and interact with space objects on your mobile device. When looking for whats in your backyard, take the time to track objects for months, keeping track of how their position changes. We recommend downloading the apps Skyview And Star Walk To get started. During your exploration, you may also come across a few planets and galaxies.

Astronomy Project Level: Initial

Source: NASA

Another easy project for people of all ages. For this project you have all the modest binoculars, a clear night sky and a pair of visible moons. With just this telescope, you can see the incredible surface of the moon in more detail than you expected, revealing some of its spectacular craters and lunar seas.

More than that, take the time to record your observations, analyze how the moon changes over time. It is also good to note that the positions of the moon will change over time. Many people observe the moon, take observations and sketch it; Thus, creating beautiful artwork.

Astronomy Project Level: Early-Intermediate

Source: NASA

After observing the moon and a few planets, why not take a shot to get a glimpse of the International Space Station? The ISS is almost traveling 27,600 km Per hour above the Earth, which allows it to orbit the Earth 16 times Every day. Approximately 400 kilometers On the planet, can be seen above the space station Held at 6,700 Worldwide destinations. It is not so difficult to see because it is one of the third brightest things in the sky. If you want to know more about how to find ISS, dont forget to stop by its NASA website.

Astronomy Project Level: Intermediate-Advanced

Source: NASA

As mentioned above, the stars always move their positions. This is partly due to the fact that the earth rotates continuously as it orbits the sun, causing the position of the stars to move beyond our point of view. When photographs are taken over time, these movements create beautiful light paths in the sky, properly dubbing the star drabs. This project will take a little more planning and commitment than the other projects on this list, but the end result can be surprising.

Youll need a camera capable of shooting in bulb mode, a rigid tripod and cable release. And if youre thinking of doing this when its cold, make sure you pack a suitable flashlight and extra warm clothing. To get the full DYY process for Star Trail photography, dont forget to stop here.

Astronomy Project Level: Intermediate-Advanced

Source: Richard Payne / NASA

Okay, so youve mastered star trail photography, and now youre looking forward to capturing other major celestial bodies enter the world of astrophotography. For this project, youll need a DSLR or mirrorless camera marrow on a tripod-mounted tracker to get started. Astrophotography is just taking pictures of things in space. Whats more, with the right tools to access, you can capture stunning shots of the Galaxy and even star clusters.

There are many ways to get started with astrophotography, and there is also a fantastic project to complete during the summer months. Heres what you need to know about astrophotography if you want to get started ASAP.

Astronomy Project Level: Initial

(Embed) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BG-ukUB_sQU (/ embed)

This project is great to do with kids, teaching them about the life cycle of the star while getting a little dirty with the arts and crafts in their hands. As a child, it is difficult to process how long stars can exist. This project will help put things in perspective.

Equipped with simple household items like black construction paper, cotton balls and markers, you can create a compelling poster depicting the life cycle of a star. This project is a great way to teach children interactively about the celestial bodies they see every day. If you want to complete a project, dont forget to stop here.

Astronomy Project Level: Early-Intermediate

(Embed) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xIV-k39Kukw (/ embed)

Stardust is made up of particles left over from a supernova explosion. Stardust gives researchers an understanding of the history of our universe. Yet, have you ever wondered how they would collect it?

Other projects suitable for children. This project allows them to build their own small satellites, analyzing whether the number of particles collected during a satellite mission is related to the orbital period of the object from the satellite. Projects like this are great because they also teach children about the scientific method. Check it out here.

Astronomy Project Level: Initial

Source: NASA

To travel wide distances, ancient navigators used stars to get from point A to point B. Still, how do you know which stars to use? And how do you use it? In this project, you will teach your children (and yourself) how to identify navigational stars in every hemisphere of the world.

You can combine this project with a camping trip or any of the outdoor projects on the list, as this is a valuable skill to keep if you ever get lost. For more on this project, dont forget to stop by Science Buddies.

Astronomy Project Level: Initial

This project is another great way to expose children to the scientific method. For this project, you will test whether the moon affects your stargazing. Let your children write down their hypotheses for the experiment and test them over time as they observe the phases of the moon during the month. Check out the project here.

If kids are stuck in your home right now, use this opportunity to show how exciting astronomy and science can be.

Do you have any favorite astronomy projects? If so, drop your comments below.

. (TSG translate) Astronomy (T) Astronomy Projects (T) Astronomy Science projects Science Projects (T) Astronomy Project Ideas (T) Astronomy for Kids

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9 out of This World Astronomy Projects You Can Do While at Home - Smash Newz

Astronomers have the privilege of watching things happen in the past which they call the lookback time. Our best measurement of the age of the universe is 13.7 billion years. The distance that light travels in one year is called a light year. The most distant galaxies observed by NICMOS were at a distance of almost 13 billion light years. This meant that the light that NICMOS detected had been traveling for 13 billion years and showed what the galaxies looked like 13 billion years ago, a time when the universe was only about 5% of its current age. These were some of the first galaxies ever created and were forming new stars at rates that were more than a thousand times the rate at which most galaxies form stars in the current universe.

Although astronomers have studied star formation for decades, many questions remain. Part of the problem is that most stars are formed in clouds of molecules and dust. The dust absorbs the ultraviolet and most of the optical light emitted by forming stars, making it difficult for Hubbles ultraviolet and optical instruments to study the process.

The longer, or redder, the wavelength of the light, the less is absorbed. That is why sunsets, where the light must pass through long lengths of dusty air, appear red.

The near infrared, however, has an even easier time passing through dust than the red optical light. NICMOS can look into star formation regions with the superior image quality of Hubble to determine the details of where the star formation occurs. A good example is the iconic Hubble image of the Eagle Nebula, also known as the pillars of creation.

The optical image shows majestic pillars which appear to show star formation over a large volume of space. The NICMOS image, however, shows a different picture. In the NICMOS image, most of the pillars are transparent with no star formation. Stars are only being formed at the tip of the pillars. The optical pillars are just empty dust reflecting the light of a group of nearby stars.

Read more:

How Hubble opened our eyes to the universe's first galaxies - Astronomy Magazine

Come "Blast Off With the Bishop" atan interactive, day-long event hosted by the Bishop Museum of Science and Nature this Saturday, May 2.

While the museum is closed due to the pandemic, staff are still providing opportunities for guests to learn and have a good time. So, in celebration of National Astronomy Day, the museum is offering free virtual sessions over Zoom, where guests can learn and ask questions about outer space. Planetarium manager Howard Hochhalter will discuss everything from the wonders of our galaxy to proper stargazing equipment and whatyou mightsee in Saturday night's sky.

"We have three exciting programs to celebrate the day," says Hochhalter. At 1o a.m., he will give a beginner's course called the "ABCs of Astronomy," followed by a Q&A session called "AHA! (Ask Howard Anything)" at 1 p.m. A virtual story hour will also be available for kids at 3 p.m. Then Hochhalter will return for "Star Talk" at 4 p.m., where members of the astronomy club will share photographs of the moon, stars, galaxies and more of what you'll see in that night's sky.

We want people to learn about the night sky, and connect with each other in some way, says Hochhalter. We also want to develop realistic expectations for what they will see.

National Astronomy Day is celebrated twice a year in the United States, during the fall and spring seasons, but Hochhalter says that every clear night is a celebration for stargazers. He hopes experts and amateurs alike step outside and take a closer look, whether they own a telescope or not.

This is also the planetarium's first time conducting virtual sessions, and while museum staff would have preferred a physical gathering, the virtual option will suffice.

"We could reach a larger audience this way," says Hochhalter.

"Blast Off With The Bishop" is on Saturday, May 2 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. over Zoom. To register and learn more, click here or call (941) 746-4131.Registration is free.

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Celebrate National Astronomy Day with The Bishop Museum - Sarasota

To begin looking for objects in the heavens, youll need to know where north, south, east and west are. Make a note of where the sun rises (east) and sets (west), use Google maps or use the compass on your phone. Now, download a free astronomy app to your phone AND computer. My favourite, for ease of use and features, is Stellarium .

Once the app is installed, set your location. This ensures that, when opened, the app indicates what is in the sky above you wherever you live in the world. Stellarium automatically sets the time and date but also has a function that speeds up time, so you can fast forward to night-time and explore the sky from your sofa. Its even possible to set it to show the sky on the night you were born.

Decide what you want to search for in the sky (such as star clusters, constellations, planets) and use Stellarium to find them virtually: this will tell you which direction they lie in, and how high up in the sky to look. Sky Map (Android) and Star Walk (iPhone) are free stargazing apps and provide the names of stars, constellations and planets if you point your phone at the sky. Both have a night view or red light option, which is useful once your eyes adjust to the dark.

Stargazing from home doesnt always mean apps and laptops: you can see plenty with binoculars even a cheap pair. Sir Patrick Moore recommended 10x50 binoculars for astronomy as a good starting point and Ive been using a pair of these at Battlesteads Observatory for five years.

Ensure your eyes are dark adapted by turning off lights. Your eyes will start adapting immediately and that will improve over the next 30 minutes. If stargazing from inside through a window, ensure the area is free from clutter, turn off your lights and get comfortable. If in a yard or garden, turn off all the lights on that side of your house and turn off any outside lights too, being careful to make sure there are no trip hazards first. Whether you live in the light-polluted city or are blessed with dark skies youre ready.

The moon is visible day and the night over the course of a month and on 7 May it will be a supermoon a little closer to us than normal and appearing around 10% bigger. Look at the moon with your naked eyes and notice the dark and light-grey patches. Light-grey areas are mountainous highlands; the dark grey are long-dried-up lava beds called seas because early astronomers took them for actual seas. If you look closely you can see a white circle (where the seven would be if the moon were a clock face) with rays of white pointing out from it. This is Tycho; a crater about as big as East Anglia. If you have any kind of binoculars old or even toy ones grab them and have a closer look at the moon. Youll see more detail around the craters and seas but have a look around the edge of the moon, too, and see its not a perfect circle. The rough, jagged outline is because of lunar mountain ranges.

The phase of the moon changes daily. The phase is how much of the moon is visible from Earth full, half and crescent, for example. The line between the light and dark side of the moon is called the terminator. Each night, look closely at the terminator and youll see different craters, valleys and mountain ranges as the line slowly moves across the surface.

In the evening, Venus is a bright dot in the west. It shines brightly because the thick clouds that shroud it are reflecting sunlight towards us. If youve got binoculars to hand, or a small telescope, notice that Venus isnt a perfect circle either it has phases just like the moon.

In the east on pre-dawn mornings throughout April and May, Jupiter, Saturn and Mars line up as three incredibly bright colourful dots. Theyre all visible with the naked eye, though with binoculars Mars will look salmon pink, Saturn oval-shaped (because of the rings) and you may even see some of Jupiters moons.

On 4 July after 9.30pm, the Moon, Jupiter and Saturn will all be very close together in the sky, forming a conjunction, which is a rare event.

Constellations are official patterns of stars, and youll be familiar with some names and patterns. During April, Orion will be visible in the west after sunset. Recognisable by the three stars in a row that form his belt, this is one of my favourites because hanging from his belt is a sword containing another three stars and the middle star is a naked-eye visible nebula where baby stars are being born. Look at this with binoculars and you may spot a blurry smudge that some see as coloured turquoise.

Look north for the Plough (often called the Big Dipper). The second star on the handle of the Plough is a naked-eye double star. Look closely or use binoculars and youll be able to see them clearly even with high light pollution.

Orbiting the Earth, 250 miles up, is the International Space Station (ISS), home to (usually) six astronauts from around the world. You can easily spot it with the naked eye as it flies from west to east. Go to spotthestation.nasa.gov and enter your location to see when its due to fly over you.

Astronomers hate clouds, but from May to July an eerie phenomenon, often mistaken for the aurora borealis, graces our skies. Noctilucent clouds are white/electric blue ice crystal clouds that form only in the summer, 50 miles up at the very edge of space. Sometimes seen about an hour after sunset, or an hour before sunrise, looking north, they are hauntingly beautiful and best observed with the naked eye.

Even when its cloudy you can explore the universe. Here are some useful links: Aurora Borealis: liveauroranetwork.com ISS Live Stream: ustream.tv/channel/live-iss-stream+ Robotic telescope service Slooh does live streams and has a back catalogue of videos to watch on YouTube. For a small fee you can take control of one of its remote telescopes.

There are also several live all-sky cameras and telescopes. Some are more reliable than others: allskycam.com; eso.org; telescope.org

Roy Alexander is director of learning and lead astronomer at Astro Ventures as well as teaching classes and workshops at Battlesteads Observatory

Read more here:

The secrets to stargazing from your backyard - The Guardian

By Leah Crane

Credit: M. Weiss

This explosion puts the super in supernova. A blast about 4.5 million light-years away has released about 10 times more energy than the sun will emit in its entire lifetime, making it the most powerful supernova ever spotted.

Until now it wasnt clear that explosions this powerful were even possible, says Edo Berger at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics in Cambridge, Massachusetts. He and his colleagues found the supernova, called SN2016aps, using the Panoramic Survey Telescope and Rapid Response System in Hawaii.

Not only is SN2016aps the most powerful supernova ever spotted, it is the longest one we have found. We found this more than three years ago, and were still observing it usually we only can track a supernova for maybe a few months, says Berger.

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To create a supernova this bright and long-lasting, the star that exploded must have shed a shell of material making up about half of its mass before it blew up. When the explosion smashed through the shell like a wrecking ball at a speed of about 4600 kilometres per second, it would have created an extreme blast of radiation.

The big question mark is, how did a star, about a decade before it exploded, lose half of its mass? Its not something we see in the models, says Berger.

Models of this type of supernova predict that it should shed a shell of mass thousands of years before exploding, but the observations show that the shell was still so dense and close to the central blast that it must have been ejected within a few decades of the supernova.

Explosions like this one could help us learn about the supermassive stars that may have existed in the early universe.

We dont have stars like this in our own galaxy, so the only way we can find out about these stars is by looking for these really exotic explosions and then sort of recreate the crime scene to figure out what it was up to before it exploded, says Berger.

The fact that this explosion was so bright means we may be able to find more scenes of huge stars demises even further away.

Journal reference: Nature Astronomy, DOI: 10.1038/s41550-020-1066-7

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Astronomers have spotted the most powerful supernova ever - New Scientist News

Representative Image. (Photo: AFP)

International Astronomy Day is celebrated twice a year -- one in autumn and another in spring. The Astronomy Day 2020 is celebrated on May 2. The world will celebrate the next Astronomy Day on September 26.

On this day, museums, societies, astronomical institutions and planetariums organise seminars, workshops and other fun-filled activities to spread awareness about the world of astronomy.

According to starwalk.space, in 1973, Doug Berger, president of the Astronomical Association of Northern California, had organised the celebration of first Astronomy Day. The idea behind observing the day is to create awareness and educate people about the beautiful universe.

On International Astronomy Day, lets have a look at some of the quotes by famous astronauts.

1. Neil Amstrong about the moon: Its a brilliant surface in that sunlight. The horizon seems quite close to you because the curvature is so much more pronounced than here on earth. Its an interesting place to be. I recommend it.

2. Kalpana Chawla on achieving goals: Do something because you really want to do it. If youre doing it just for the goal and dont enjoy the path, then I think youre cheating yourself.

3. Sunita Williams on teamwork: You don't look at the big problem altogether, because I think it's a little intimidating. So you just take it one day at a time, meet the people who are going to meet with you, for you, and who you're going to work for, and really try to do the best job that you can. That's all teamwork, and that's what space travel is about.

4. Rakesh Sharma about his space experience: As anyone can imagine, going up into space was a very rich and memorable experience and yes, it was unforgettable too.

Read this article:

International Astronomy Day 2020: All You Need to Know - News18

Astronomers have determined that, on average, the Sun is quieter than other stars magnetically, and it's not clear why. The long-term meaning of this finding isn't clear either, but it implies the Sun could get even more active than it is now.

Our Sun is magnetically active, meaning it has a magnetic field that sometimes strengthens enough to spit out huge and powerful storms, as well as create dark regions on the surface called sunspots. This activity directly affects us on Earth, endangering satellites in orbit, humans in space, and even our power grid on the ground. This magnetic activity is cyclical, waxing and waning every 11 years.

The motivation behind the new work is that, while we understand a lot about the Sun's magnetic field, it's important to have an idea of how it behaves compared to other stars. For example, is it more or less active compared to other stars?

That's a good question, because we don't know much about the long-term behavior of the Sun. Astronomers started counting sunspots around the first time a telescope was used to look skyward, but it wasn't until 1878 that images were good enough to start looking at their total area and position on the Suns face, giving us an idea of how they changed the Sun's brightness. We can do better, though; ice cores on Earth show the presence of elemental isotopes that are affected by subatomic particles zipping through space, and these particles are affected by the Sun's magnetic field. So we can use them as a proxy for solar magnetic activity going back about 9,000 years.

But that's a paltry amount compared to the billions of years a star lives. And that's why new research looked to other stars to see how they behave, to compare them to the Sun. The idea is that by looking at their brightness over long periods of time they can see the stars dimming and brightening as sunspots (well, starspots) rotate into and out of view. More magnetically active stars will change more because they have more sunspots, while quiet stars will have a more stable brightness. And the more stars they can observe the better.

For this, the scientists who did the new research turned to the Kepler observatory, which for three years stared at a single spot in space to look for exoplanets, planets orbiting other stars. It did this by taking frequent brightness measurements of 150,000 stars, looking for dips in brightness when planets passed in front of them, making mini-eclipses. And that means Kepler got a lot of brightness measurements of the stars, which is perfect for this study.

Now, stars come in many different flavors: high mass, low mass, young, old, hot, cool so the astronomers had to cull the list to leave only stars as much like the Sun as possible, to make the comparison fair. To do this they picked stars close to the Sun's surface temperature of 5780K, chemical composition (heavy elements affect the way a star behaves), surface gravity (some stars are giants and have much lower gravity; these are inactive magnetically), and most importantlyrotation.

Why rotation? The spin of a star is what powers the magnetic field. It creates what's called a dynamo inside the star, a self-powered magnetic generator. A star that spins rapidly is likely to have a much stronger magnetic field, and therefore a more aggressive sunspot cycle, so the astronomers did what they could to limit their sample to stars with rotation periods close to the Sun's of about 24.5 days.

In the end they wound up with long-term Kepler data for 365 solar-type stars. They also had a group of over 3,500 stars that were very much like the Sun but for which no rotation period was known. Then they compared the changes in those stars' brightness with the Sun's.

What they found is surprising: The Sun is much quieter than other stars like it! While the Sun's median brightness variation is 0.07%, the other stars had a median of 0.36%, five times higher! That's even twice as much as the Sun's maximum variation of 0.2%.

Why? It's not clear. There's an idea that the Sun is reaching an age where it's going through a transition to a quieter magnetic cycle as its rotation slows over the eons. The other stars like the Sun may not be quite that old yet, so are still active.

Interestingly, when they looked at the group of stars for which no rotation had been measured, they tended to be quieter, too, like the Sun. Again, it's not clear why. Remember, these are all stars very much like the Sun, but we just don't know how rapidly they spin. If the Sun were a star a few dozen light years away, we'd have a hard time measuring its rotation rate, and it would be in this sample of stars. In that case these stars may represent the kind of activity the Sun is still capable of.

That's intriguing. It's entirely possible the Sun is very active on timescales longer than 9,000 years, which is far back as we can reliably measure. Perhaps over tens or hundreds of thousands of years the Sun's activity increases quite a bit, but we have no records of it.

That's concerning. While the timescale is long, and is probably not anything we need worry about for quite some time, it's still not comforting to think the Sun can be more active. The magnetic cycle is responsible not just for sunspots, but also for solar storms, cataclysmic eruptions of solar flares and coronal mass ejections. These have a big effect on satellites, humans in space, and even our power grid on the ground. It's very much in our interest to understand these cycles better!

This work is a great first step in understanding the Sun's long-term behavior. In the future, other space-based observatories are planned to look at stars like Kepler did, so the research can be extended, too. It's interesting to me that the observations Kepler made can be used for other kinds of science than what was originally intended, too. So much of astronomy just depends on looking up, and doing so in as many ways possible. That means there's a lot of overlap there. What else will learn as we plumb the depths of the data we collect?

Originally posted here:

Our Sun is magnetically quiet compared to other stars. But why? - SYFY WIRE

The nights are now milder as the days reach May, meaning more people could venture out at night in their backyards or roof for some stargazing, especially since many cities and countries are still in lockdown due to the coronavirus pandemic.

(Photo : Neale LaSalle from Pexels)The Eta Aquariid meteor shower will peak this May.

With the milder nights comes fantastic night-time displays, care of a super moon, and meteor showers--although this month is not as active as April was.

Still, there are a few things worth seeing.

For those who are interested, here are the astronomy and space-related events happening this month of May:

The Eta Aquariid meteor shower will produce a staggering 20 to 30 meteors per hour, which makes up for the lack of super-bright fireballs, according to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's (NASA) Bill Cooke from the agency's Meteoroid Environment Office.

Those on the Southern Hemisphere will even see more meteor showers with around 40 fireballs streaking through the night sky per hour, according to the American Meteor Society (AMS).

However,Thrillistnoted that the moon might be too bright during the meteor shower's peak, so it could interfere with everyone's viewing, especially since the shower is often fast and faint.

But, it's still possible to watch the Eta Aquariid meteor shower a few hours before dawn when the moon has set for the night, and the sky is darker.

In addition, stargazers are advised to avoid looking at their phones as it could ruin their night vision.

It's good to catch this meteor shower as this is the last major one for now, and the next one won't happen until late July.

We've already experienced four supermoons in 2020 alone, but for those who aren't tired of our closest neighbor's spectacular show off, the last one for this year will happen on the evening of May 6 to the early morning of May 7.

For those who aren't aware, a supermoon is when the moon appears bigger and brighter than it usually is.

It's also worth seeing since, according toAccuWeather, the next one won't happen until April 2021.

In addition, May's full moon is also known as the Flower Moon since it's the start of Spring and the flowers and plants are starting to bloom once again after some harsh, winter months. Other names of May's full moon include the Milk Moon, Corn Planting Moon, and the Frog Moon.

Read Also:NASA ALlows Spacecraft of Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos to Land NASA Astronauts on Moon

Although Jupiter is millions of miles away fromour moonin reality, they will look closer in our perspectives on May 12 to May 13, from midnight to pre-dawn hours in the south-southeastern sky.

It's best to see them with the naked eye or with a pair of binoculars, as they won't be too close together to view with a telescope.

Just like with Jupiter, the red planet will be easier to spot in the night sky just before dawn, close to the moon in our perspectives.

There's a new comet in town--comet SWAN--which will be at its closest to the sun this mid-May and might be bright enough to be seen in our night sky.

Last month, comet ATLAS was the center of attention by astronomy lovers as it grew brighter, showing potential to shine brighter and become visible to the naked eye, untilit broke apartunexpectedly.

This month, comet SWAN might finally fulfill our thirst for a good comet show, with the comet making itsclosest approachto Earth on May 13.

Read Also:[VIDEO] NASA Captures Dancing Black Holes Creating Mega Flare Brighter Than Trillion Stars

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The Night Sky This May: Here are the Top Astronomy Events You Can See This Month - Tech Times