CELESTIAL TRIANGLE: Step outside tonight after sunset and look up. You'll see a beautiful triangle formed by Jupiter, the Moon and the first-magnitude star Regulus. If you have a telescope, point it at Jupiter; even a small 'scope will reveal the planet's cloud belts and four largest moons. [sky map]
Would you like a call when the space station flies over your home town? Sign up for Spaceweather PHONE.
THREE SPACESHIPS: Today the International Space Station is flanked by two Russian Progress rockets. Progress 13, filled with trash to be burned in Earth's atmosphere, recently undocked from the ISS and it's pulling away. Meanwhile, Progress 14, carrying supplies from Earth, is chasing the ISS. It will dock on May 27th.
You might be able to see all three spaceships if the ISS flies over your hometown tonight. The Progress rockets will look like dim stars leading or trailing the much-brighter ISS by a few minutes.
Visit one of these web sites to find out exactly when to look for the ISS: Chris Peat's Heavens Above; Science@NASA's J-Pass. Or subscribe to SpaceWeather Phone and get a telephone call when the space station is about to appear over your backyard.
If you have a backyard telescope, try pointing it at the ISS when the space station glides overhead. You can see plenty of details: solar panels, trusses, living quarters and more. Filipe Alves of Lisbon, Portugal, recorded this movie (above) on May 13th using a 10-inch telescope and a digital video camera. "The space station was difficult to track by hand," says Alves, but the result was lovely.
DISAPPEARING PLANET: Venus, remarkably bright and eye-catching, has been a fixture of the western sunset sky for months. But now it's about to vanish. It's sinking into the glare of the Sun as it heads for a historic solar transit on June 8th. Tonight may be your last chance to spot the disappearing planet. Don't wait! [sky map] (continued below)
To the unaided eye, Venus seems improbably bright. It's even more amazing through a telescope. Venus looks like a slender crescent Moon. Witness these images (above) captured by Pete Lawrence of Selsey, West Sussex, UK.