Highlights: You have to get up early to experience the whiff of a cosmic play of light on the morning of May 16th: At 4:28 a.m. the full moon enters the umbra of the earth and begins to gradually darken. Unfortunately, there will not be an eclipse in the classic sense over Central Europe, because twilight begins at this time. When the sun rises a good hour later in the east, the moon sinks below the horizon in the west – and then at 5:29 totality has only just begun.
Observers in North and South America, on the other hand, can enjoy the spectacle to the full. But what actually happens? Earth casts a shadow nearly 1.4 million kilometers long in space. The moon orbits our planet at an average distance of 384,400 kilometers, so it runs within this shadow. In order for him to actually meet him, two conditions must be met.
First, the earth must be exactly between the sun and the moon, that is, the moon must be full. But an eclipse does not occur with every full moon, because the orbits of the moon and earth are slightly tilted against each other; therefore the satellite usually passes above or below the shadow of the earth. The second condition is that the sun, earth and moon must be in line. Occasionally the moon only partially dips into the earth’s shadow, then one speaks of a partial eclipse. Incidentally, the moon never completely disappears from the scene, even during totality, but shimmers as a “blood moon” in copper-colored light.
Stars and constellations: The twins Pollux and Castor and Kapella in the carter sparkle in the north-west, while Deneb in the swan and Vega in the lyre shine in the north-east. Far to the north stands the Big Dipper with its shaft raised. The southern sky is dominated by the images of Bootes, Virgo and Leo with their bright stars Arcturus, Spika and Regulus. High in the southeast Hercules shimmers, low on the horizon the reddish Antares twinkles in Scorpio.
Planets, Moon, Meteors: Mercury appears just above the northwestern horizon at dusk in the first days of May. Venus shines brightly in the east before sunrise. Mars moves from Aquarius to Pisces, which also includes Jupiter. The three planets adorn the morning firmament together with Saturn in Capricorn. First Quarter is May 9th, Full Moon is May 16th, Last Quarter is May 22nd and New Moon is May 30th. In the morning hours of May 6th, up to 50 shooting stars of the Eta Aquarids could dash across the sky every hour, the crumbs have splintered off from the famous Comet Halley.