Hello! I've returned from Algonquin Park on a very successful trip - and a very tiring one. Arrived home later than I would have liked due to traffic - departing at 3;30pm which should have got me home by around 7;30 had me instead arriving at 11;45. I'm very tired but that doesn't stop the fact I have to work in about 30 minutes ##.
What's in the sky tonight?
May 21, 2013
-The star near the waxing gibbous Moon this evening is Spica in Virgo.
-Venus (magnitude –3.9) is still quite low in the west-northwest in twilight, to the lower right of Jupiter. Watch as Venus and Jupiter draw together by about 1° per day. On May 17th they're still 11° apart. Their conjunction comes on the 28th, when they'll be 1° apart with Mercury right alongside.
Astro Picture of the Day:
May 21, 2013
Source
Once the famous sunset comet, PanSTARRS (C/2011 L4) is now visible all night from much of the northern hemisphere, bound for the outer solar system as it climbs high above the ecliptic plane. Dimmer and fading, the comet's broad dust tail is still growing, though. This widefield telescopic image was taken against the starry background of the constellation Cepheus on May 15. It shows the comet has developed an extensive anti-tail, dust trailing along the comet's orbit (to the left of the coma), stretching more than 3 degrees across the frame. Since the comet is just over 1.6 astronomical units from planet Earth, that corresponds to a distance of over 12 million kilometers. In late May Comet PanSTARRS will pass within a few degrees of the north celestial pole.