Namibia's night sky in May: Up to 50 shooting stars per hour

One of the highlights of Namibia's starry sky in May are the Eta Aquarids. This is a 'shower' of meteors that enter the Earth's atmosphere and burn up. This is popularly known as shooting stars.

The spectacle is something for early risers. The centre of the Eta Aquarids rises pretty much exactly in the east at around 2.30 am. However, you have time until dawn to see the shooting stars and make a wish.

They appear close to the constellation Aquarius – hence their name. The meteor shower lasts until 28 May. It reaches its peak on the night of 5 to 6 May with around 50 shooting stars per hour (see TimeAndDate.com).

Most of the planetary events also take place in the morning sky. Saturn rises at around 3.15 am (all times for planets refer to 15 May; see TimeAndDate.com; location: Windhoek). Venus follows as a brightly shining 'morning star' at around 4.00 am. On 23 May, the two have a 'Threesome' with the Moon moving between them.

Actually, it's even a 'foursome'. This is because Neptune is very close to Saturn, just a bit left and below the ring planet. But it's hard to find and you need a telescope to see it.

Mercury only makes a very brief appearance. It rises at 6.00 am, not even an hour before dawn. Uranus cannot be observed at all in May. It practically rises and sets with the sun.

Newly discovered comet in the evening sky

Mars and Jupiter hold the fort in the evening sky. Mars is high in the north-north-west at around 7.00 pm, between the constellations of Leo and Cancer. It takes its leave at around 11.45 pm. Jupiter does this already at 8.15 pm. It can be found to the right of Taurus and below Gemini.

A special event on the evening sky is comet C/2025 F2. It is at about the same altitude as Jupiter, but further to the west, below the constellation Orion. C/2025 F2 was only discovered this year. It is unlikely to be visible to the naked eye. However, this is difficult to predict with comets (see TimeAndDate.com).

Sun and moon

Sunrise on 1 May is around 7.10 am, sunset around 6.25 pm. On 31 May, the sun rises at around 7.25 am and sets at around 6.15 pm. Winter is approaching. The period of daylight becomes shorter and shorter.

The moon phases in May: last quarter 4/05, new moon 12/05, first quarter 20/05, full moon 27/05. At the beginning to middle of May, the moonlight is therefore the least disturbing when observing the stars and planets.

You can find out more about the Namibian starry sky in May in the Astro-News by Lutz von Dewitz in the news section on the website of the Namibia Scientific Society.

Sven-Eric Stender