The sky for the month of May 2013

17 May 2013

Sky maps looking North and South in Paris, on the 15th of May 2013, at 23 h civil time.

Sky map looking North - May 2013
Sky map looking South - May 2013

These maps show the bright stars and the planets which are visible in the sky of the Northern hemisphere, looking South and North, on the 15th of May 2013 (23h). The vertical line is the projection on the sky of the local meridian. The red arc looking South represents the ecliptic (the apparent path of the Sun during the year).

The constellations which can be seen on these maps are, in alphabetical order of the abbreviations:

Aquila (Aql), Auriga (Aur), Boötes (Boo), Cassiopeia (Cas), Cepheus (Cep), Cancer (Cnc), Coma Berenices (Com), Corona Borealis (CrB), Crater (Crt), Corvus (Crv), Canes Venatici (CVn), Cygnus (Cyg), Draco (Dra), Gemini (Gem), Hercules (Her), Hydra (Hya), Lacerta (Lac), Leo (Leo), Libra (Lib), Leo Minor (LMi), Lynx (Lyn), Lyra (Lyr), Ophiucus (Oph), Perseus (Per), Ursa Major (UMa), Ursa Minor (UMi), Scorpio (Sco), Serpens (Ser), Sextans (Sex), Sagitta (Sge), Virgo (Vir), Vulpecula (Vul)

The Sun, in its apparent motion along the ecliptic, is accompanied by several neighbouring planets. Those which are to the East can be seen at sunset and in the early evening, depending on their magnitude; those which are to the West will be visible at the end of the night or at sunrise, under the same conditions. The following figure shows the configuration on May 15th 2013.

Apparent motion of the Sun along the ecliptic - May 2013

The sky maps were created using the free software Stellarium.