May the Fourth be with you, Star Wars fans

First off, let us take care of the important matters, today is Star Wars Day, May the Fourth be With You. Those of you who are fans will understand.

Now, let's get back to our Top Ten list for things to see from the not-so-dark sky of the city.

We started with the obvious, the moon. There are no problems seeing it from anywhere, and this coming Friday, May 6, will provide an excellent opportunity to begin a month-long "Moon Watch."

That is the date of the New Moon, or the date when the moon passes between Earth and the Sun thus rendering it invisible from Earth.

However, one or two days later a splendid, tiny, thin crescent will be visible in the western evening sky just after local sunset. This is also a great opportunity to look for "Earthshine," or light from the Sun reflected off of Earth back onto the moon.

The part of the moon that is not lit by sunlight will look like a shadowy, dimly lit part of the moon. A great sight in binoculars.

Okay, for numbers two and three you won't need to look far, they are almost side-by-side. Number two is The Great Orion Nebula, M42. You will need to look a half-hour to an hour after local sunset in the west for the constellation, Orion.

Don't delay too much because Orion is rapidly setting in the west this time of year. After you find Orion, locate the sword hanging below his three-star belt. The nebula is the middle star of the sword.

It is possible to view it with binoculars, but all you will see is a fuzzy patch with several stars. A telescope--even a small one--will show the nebula in all its splendor, a sight not to be missed.

For number three, find the star marking Orion's right shoulder (that is on the left side as you are looking at it). That is the great star Betelgeuse, a reddish super-giant, that is the ninth brightest in the sky.

If it were put where our Sun is, it would extend out beyond the asteroid belt, almost to the planet Jupiter. It is located about 640 light-years away. It is fun to compare its color to that of Antares in Scorpius, and the planet Mars.

To find number four, swing your view along the horizon after 10:00 pm local time from Orion to the northeast until you find the constellation, Hercules. It looks like a giant letter "H" lying parallel to the horizon.

The key to finding Hercules is the slightly not-square, square of stars called "The Keystone." On the top side of the Keystone is what we are looking for, a grand globular star cluster labeled M13, or the Hercules Cluster.

A globular cluster is much more tightly packed than the spread out open star cluster. Again, binoculars will work, but a telescope really shows the cluster off.

SKY WATCH: New moon (no moon visible), Friday, May 6. Mercury transits the Sun Monday, May 9, starting before sunrise until about 12:40 pm MDT. Telescope with proper Sun filter essential.

NEXT WEEK: The rest of our Top Ten List for city skies, more astronomical blathering.