EarthSky News - May 20 - Moon and Planets, Top Stories

May 20 Moon and Planets Top Stories by:

Next few mornings … Moon, Venus, Mercury Both Venus and Mercury will remain in the early morning sky through early June, and Venus will remain visible at dawn throughout June and for some months to come. A giant magnetic bridge between galaxies A huge stream of neutral gas stretching 75,000 light-years between the 2 Magellanic Clouds. How long to travel to Alpha Centauri? Conventional propulsion and warp drives, plus Breakthrough Starshot's new idea to send nanostarships to the Alpha Centauri star system. Planet circus in May, with explanation Beautiful spatial view of our solar system showing the planets' paths along their orbits, with sightlines to them from the Earth. Did this human species coexist with our ancestors? Fossil remains might be evidence of another hominin species coexisting with the first humans in Africa. The oldest signs of life on land yet Fossils from ancient Australian hot spring deposits have pushed back the earliest known evidence for land-based microbial life to 3.48 billion years.

EarthSky Lunar Calendars are on sale 50% OFF A unique and beautiful poster-sized calendar. Keep up with all phases of the moon every night of the year. Only about 100 left in stock, get them while you can!

Next few mornings … Moon, Venus, Mercury The moon and Venus are easy - very bright! Mercury is tougher, especially from far-northern latitudes. If you can't see Mercury, scan with binoculars.

Meet the Leo Triplet These 3 distant galaxies are all large spirals - much like our Milky Way - and they can be seen in a single field of view in small telescopes. Photo by Trevor Jones. Submit your photo to EarthSky here!

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