Enjoy Earth's two moons while they last

Are you excited about observing yet? Have you had a chance to go outside and just look at the sky?

Remember, you don't have to go outside on purpose, if you are outside for any reason, look up. It doesn't even have to be after dark, just look up. Anyone have a chance to see the Moon during the daytime last week, I did, twice.

Speaking of the Moon, information was released recently that the Earth, as of now, has two moons. A moon, in the astronomical sense, is any smaller body orbiting a larger body. With that definition in mind, it was announced last week that there is another smaller astronomical body orbiting the Earth, at least for the time being.

The good folks operating the Catalina Sky Survey in Arizona spotted a small asteroid that they believe was captured by the Earth's gravity last September and will orbit the Earth until September of this year.

The object, a meter wide rock dubbed 6R10DB9, is now making its third wide orbit of the Earth. With a magnitude of 19, it is far too dim to be seen. The orbital path of the asteroid is far outside the orbital distance of the Moon. The next nearest approach will be in June when it will dip inside the Earth/Moon boundary and receive enough of a gravity assist from the Earth to escape back into space and resume its orbit of the Sun.

Oh, well, it was nice having two moons, at least for a while.

Now, back to our top 10 observing tips.

As I said last week, No. 10 is to just look up, and No. 9 was to watch the Moon, yes, even in the daytime. Now for No. 8, watch the Sun. Now, I don't mean to look directly at it, that would be dangerous without the proper equipment.

What I mean by watching it is to just notice where it is. If you have the occasion watch a sunrise or a sunset, or both if you can. Notice where on the horizon the Sun rises and sets. Over a period of time watch how that place changes.

Have you noticed the point of sunrise and sunset is now moving farther north each week?

The Sun rises due east and sets due west on only two days of the year, other than those two days it is moving either north or south of those points. By the way, I hope you have tried the custom calendar for Sunrises and Sunsets at www.sunrisesunset.com/custom_srss_calendar.asp there are some hoops you have to jump through but it is well worth the effort.

Number seven on our list is use a star chart. Just as a long trip is not started without consulting a road map, so a trip across the night sky is aided with a star chart.

Many are available in either book or map form from various publishers and others are available online.

The good folks at earthsky.org, who gave me the idea for this list, have sky charts available at their web site. Go to their location and click on the skywatching link.

SKY WATCH: Now will be a good time to start watching the Moon. It will be new on Wednesday, May 16 and you won't see it that day, but look on Thursday, about a half hour after sunset, for a very slender crescent very close to the planet Mercury on the northwest horizon. Binoculars will be a help. On Friday the Moon will be within four degrees (about your fist held at arms length) from star cluster M35 and on Saturday look for the Moon within one degree of bright Venus. On Tuesday, May 22, look for a growing Moon very near Saturn.

Next time, more of our Top Ten tips for stargazers and information about the next Blue Moon.