The sky for the month of may 2015

30 April 2015

Sky maps looking North and South in Paris, on the 15th of april 2015, at 23 h civil time.

Sky map looking south - mai 2015
Sky map looking North - may 2015

These sky maps show the bright stars and planets visible from the northern hemisphere, looking Sout and North, on mayl 15th 2015 (23h). The vertical line corresponds to the projection on the sky of the local meridian. The red arc on the Southern horizon represents the ecliptic (the annual path of the Sun).

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

l’Aigle (Aql), le Cocher (Aur), le Bouvier (Boo), Cassiopée (Cas), Céphée (Cep), le Cancer (Cnc), la Chevelure de Bérénice (Com), la Couronne Boréale (CrB), le Cratère (Crt), le Corbeau (Crv), les Chiens de Chasse (CVn), le Cygne (Cyg), le Dragon (Dra), les Gémeaux (Gem), Hercule (Her), l’Hydre femelle (Hya), le Lézard (Lac),le Lion (Leo), la Balance (Lib), le Petit Lion (LMi), le Lynx (Lyn), la Lyre (Lyr), le Serpentaire (Oph), Persée (Per), la Grande Ourse (UMa), la Petite Ourse (UMi), le Scorpion (Sco), le Serpent (Ser), le Sextant (Sex), la Flèche (Sge), la Vierge (Vir), le Petit Renard (Vul)

In its apparent motion along the ecliptic, the Sun is accompanied by several neighboring planets. Those which are to the East can be seen at sunset and at the beginning of the night, depending on their elongation and magnitude, while those which at to the West will be visible at the end of the night and at sunrise, again depending on their elongation and magnitude. The following figure shows the configuration for may 15th, 2015.

Apparent motion of the Sun along the ecliptic - may 2015

The sky maps were created using the free software Stellarium.