Wednesday – is associated with Mercury
Candle colors – Purple
Magickal Conjuring for the Day: Mastery, Domination Work, Wisdom, Healing, Dealing with Legal problems.
—Starr Casas, Old Style Conjure Wisdoms, Workings and Remedies
Mars is the star of the show this week, but comet fans and a few gas giants will make welcome appearances in the night sky.
By Richard Talcott
Wednesday, May 25
• Brilliant Jupiter appears high in the southwest as darkness falls and remains on display past 2 a.m. local daylight time. The giant planet shines at magnitude –2.1 — tying Mars as the brightest point of light in the night sky — against the backdrop of southern Leo the Lion. Jupiter appears equally dazzling through a telescope, which reveals a wealth of atmospheric detail on a disk that spans 38″. Notice in particular the two parallel dark belts that straddle a bright zone coinciding with the planet’s equator.
Thursday, May 26
• One of the spring sky’s finest deep-sky objects, the Beehive star cluster (M44) in the constellation Cancer the Crab, lies about one-third of the way from the western horizon to the zenith after darkness falls. With naked eyes under a dark sky, you should be able to spot this star group as a faint and fuzzy cloud. But the Beehive explodes into dozens of stars through binoculars or a small telescope at low power.
Friday, May 27
• Although Saturn will reach opposition and peak visibility one week from today, observers will be hard-pressed to see it as inferior this week. The ringed planet rises before 9 p.m. local daylight time and appears highest in the south around 1:30 a.m. Saturn shines at magnitude 0.0 and stands out against the relatively dim background stars of southern Ophiuchus. If you target the beautiful world through a telescope, you’ll see its 18″-diameter disk surrounded by a ring system that spans 42″ and tilts 26° to our line of sight.
Saturday, May 28
• Mars’ westward motion relative to the background stars carries it from Scorpius into Libra today. But for a quick change of pace, grab your binoculars tonight and target Zubenelgenubi (Alpha [a] Librae), the modestly bright star on the constellation’s opposite side. With even the slightest optical aid, Zubenelgenubi resolves into two stars. Nearly 4′ separate the 3rd-magnitude primary from the 5th-magnitude secondary.
See “10 tempting spring binocular targets” in the May issue of Astronomy for other treats visible through binoculars.
Sunday, May 29
• Last Quarter Moon arrives at 8:12 a.m. EDT. It rises around 1:30 a.m. local daylight time and climbs higher in the southeast as dawn approaches. During this period, our half-lit satellite lies near the center of Aquarius the Water-bearer.
Sun
Sun Direction: ↑ 102.79° ESE
Sun Altitude: 51.28°
Sun Distance: 94.163 million mi
Next Solstice: Jun 20, 2016 5:34 PM (Summer)
Sunrise Today: 5:39 AM↑ 63° Northeast
Sunset Today: 8:04 PM↑ 298° Northwest
Length of Daylight: 14 hours, 25 minutes
Moon
Moon Direction: ↑ 257.78° WSW
Moon Altitude: -14.69°
Moon Distance: 243533 mi
Next New Moon: Jun 4, 20169:59 PM
Next Full Moon: Jun 20, 20166:02 AM
Next Moonrise: Today11:15 PM
Current Moon Phase: Waning Gibbous
Illumination: 86.7%
Attention: carelessness is hazardous
to your health and others’;
So always do your homework
And be scrupulous and thorough
Guard against intemperance
But lapse not into total abstention
Let your ambitions be small and healthy
Your intentions ever useful and kind
For if you wreak changes too large
Chaotic principles will apply
If you are not careful you can harm
Even more than if you intentionally try
So do what you will if you may
Never forgetting the rule of three
And ever take care not to play out
Someone else’s version
of who you are going to be.
—Poetry, Songs, and Enchantments: A Pagan Sourcebook
Gwenhwyfar Rhwwttchen
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