The Big Dipper is pouring rain on Earth

Now that all the excitement of the Mercury transit is over, let's return to our Top Ten List of things to see from a city sky.

We left off with the Hercules Cluster (M13) in the northeastern sky. Now we will travel to due north to find our old friend, the Big Dipper.

Since the time change, sunset is now getting later. Almost 8 p.m. MDT and dark-thirty (when the sky is suitable for viewing) isn't until about an hour and a half later so our viewing time is getting later in the evening.

This time of year, the dipper is upside down. According to old weather lore, that means it is pouring the spring rains upon the Earth.

Our target is the double-star in the crook of the dipper's handle, the well-known Mizar and Alcor. These two have been known from antiquity and it has been said that they were used as a test of eyesight in ancient times.

Test your eyesight, can you see the pair of them, of course, city lights might not help, but they should be visible. The real viewing excitement comes when we view them in binoculars.

Alcor is the dimmer of the pair and is located below the brighter Mizar. Both names come from Arabic and allude to "The Horse and Rider."

Astronomers were astonished to discover that Mizar is really a four-star system and Mizar is a double-star itself, for a total of six stars in the system. The extra stars are not visible and were only discovered by spectroscopic examination.

The pair are at about 80 to 83 light-years away.

Next we are going to a small pair of galaxies that Mr. Messier placed as M81 and M82 on his list of things that were not comets. We will need to do a bit of star jumping, so get your binoculars ready.

First, look due north and find the top star on the outer lip of the dipper. That may be a little confusing because the dipper is upside down, so that would put it on the bottom of the dipper's lip. The star's name is Dubhe, which is Arabic for "Back of the Bear."

Place Dubhe at the 7 o'clock position in the field of view (FOV), then move it to the 1:00 position. Move that direction again for another FOV width and you should be in the area of the two galaxies. At eighth magnitude, they are about half as bright as the Andromeda galaxy, so it may take some looking.

If you have one, a small telescope will give a better rendition.

SKY WATCH: First-quarter moon, Friday, May 13 (yes, there is a Friday the 13th in May). Saturday, May 14, is International Astronomy Day, so go do something astronomical. Also on Saturday, the moon and the planet Jupiter have a nice meet-up.

Remember I said how the moon often encounters the planets as it orbits Earth, that is because both objects follow the ecliptic.

The ecliptic is the line the Sun follows through the sky each year. As such, the moon meets Jupiter on Saturday, Mars on May 21, and Saturn the next day, May 22. In fact, the moon, Mars, and Saturn make a nice triangle, or you could use Mars, Saturn, and Antares in the heart of Scorpius for a nice triangle too.

NEXT WEEK: Mars at opposition and the "Great Mars Hoax," and more astronomical blathering.