Summer constellations make appearance

With the spring constellations now high in the south in the early evening and the stars of winter setting in the west, it is time for the constellations of summer to make their show in the east, right now that occurs after midnight MDT.

In the east the Summer Triangle, Deneb, the tail star in Cygnus, the Swan, very bright Vega in Lyra, the Lyre, and Altair, in Aquila, the Eagle are clearing the eastern horizon at about 1 a.m. MDT. The three stars are the brightest stars in the area and form a distinct triangle.

Rising about the same time, only in the southeast, are two other notable summer constellations, Sagittarius, the Archer, and Scorpius, the Scorpion. Modern sky watchers attribute a teapot shape to Sagittarius which is to the left of the "J" or fish hook shape of Scorpius.

The area between the two is another place that can be a happy hunting ground for the faint fuzzies. It won't be galaxies, like between Leo and Virgo, this time it will be possible to find, with either binoculars or a telescope, a bunch of nebula and open galactic star clusters.

It is a wonderful place just to slowly cruise with binoculars finding all the goodies that are there. Two of which will be very prominent are the Lagoon Nebula, M8, and the Trifid nebula, M20. Both are bright, fuzzy blobs of dust and gas which can be seen without optical aid from a dark-sky place.

Look for them just above the spout of the "Tea Pot" where the steam would com out of the spout. Incidentally, that location is also where the center of our own Milky Way galaxy can be found.

Both of them are emission nebula, which means they glow with the light of numerous stars in their interior. Both can be found in the same binocular field of view.

The space shuttle Atlantis was successfully launched on May 11 and will be making a visit to the Hubble Space Telescope for a long-needed and often delayed repair mission.

Alas, the pair will not make any good visible passes over Southwest Nebraska and Northwest Kansas so we won't be able to watch as they pass through the sky.

SKY WATCH: This morning, May 21, at about an hour before sunrise, bright Venus and dim Mars resided near the eastern horizon. They were joined by a very slender crescent moon. Jupiter is the bright object in the southeast. Neptune will be a very dim object just up and left of the largest of the planets in the southeast Binoculars will be necessary. Don't confuse Neptune with the star Mu Capricornus above and right of Jupiter. Saturn is still an early evening object located just below Leo, the Lion high in the south.

NEXT TIME: More astronomical blathering.