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[Music]

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what's up for may

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the planets of dusk and dawn

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a lunar eclipse

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and the coma star cluster

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may begins and ends with a couple of

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great planet spotting opportunities

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on may 2nd look to the west about 45

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minutes after sunset to find mercury

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about 10 degrees off the horizon

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accompanied by a slim crescent moon

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just to the south of the moon is

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brilliant red giant star aldebaran which

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should be roughly the same brightness as

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mercury and by the way this is the only

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chance to spot a naked eye planet in the

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early evening until august

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then in the last week of may you can

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watch each morning as jupiter and mars

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get increasingly close in the pre-dawn

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sky

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their morning meetup culminates in a

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close conjunction that you can watch on

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the 28th through the 30th where they'll

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be separated by barely the width of the

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full moon should look incredible with

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binoculars where you can also see

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jupiter's largest moons

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sky watchers in the western hemisphere

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can look forward to a total lunar

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eclipse in mid-may

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the event will be visible across the

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americas europe and africa basically

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anywhere the moon is visible above the

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horizon at the time the visible part of

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the eclipse begins about 10 30 pm us

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eastern time on may 15th with totality

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starting an hour later and lasting for

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about an hour and a half

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those in the eastern u.s will see the

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eclipse start with the moon well above

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the horizon

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for the central u.s the eclipse starts

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about an hour and a half after dark with

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the moon relatively low in the sky

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on the west coast of the u.s the moon

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rises with totality beginning or already

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underway so you'll want to find a clear

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view toward the southeast viewing from

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there

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now lunar eclipses are the ones that are

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safe to look at directly with your eyes

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or binoculars or a telescope unlike

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solar eclipses

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the moon takes on a dim reddish hue

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during the period of totality even

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though the moon is fully immersed in

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earth's shadow at that time red

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wavelengths of sunlight filter through

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earth's atmosphere and fall onto the

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moon's surface

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one way to think of this is that a total

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lunar eclipse shows us a projection of

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all the sunrises and sunsets happening

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on the planet at that moment

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so check your local details for this

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eclipse and find lots more eclipse info

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finally in may a really nice target for

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binoculars the coma star cluster

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this loose open star cluster displays 40

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or 50 stars spread over a region of sky

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about three finger widths wide

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the brightest stars in the cluster form

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a distinctive y shape as seen here

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the coma star cluster is located about

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300 light years away making it the

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second closest open cluster to earth

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after the hyades cluster in taurus

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to find the coma star cluster look

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southward for the constellation leo

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it can be easiest to start from the big

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dipper toward the north and use the two

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pointer stars on the end which always

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point you toward leo

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once you've identified leo the coma star

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cluster is about 15 degrees to the east

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of the triangle of stars representing

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the lion's hindquarters it's relatively

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easy to find with binoculars even under

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light polluted urban skies as long as

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it's clear out

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so here's wishing you clear skies for

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finding the coma star cluster and any

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other wonders you discover in the night

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sky in may

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stay up to date with all of nasa's

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missions to explore the solar system and

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beyond at nasa.gov

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i'm preston dykes from nasa's jet