SPACE STATION SIGHTINGSAs the space station orbits the Earth, sunlight reflects off of its giant solar arrays. From Earth, it appears as a bright object moving high across the night sky. Visit www.heavens-above.com to get a list of upcoming ISS passes over your community.

THE PLANETS MERCURY transits across the face of the Sun for the first time in 10 years on May 9, starting at 7:13 a.m. EDT and lasting until 2:41 p.m. EDT.

*MARS shines its brightest for the entire year, appearing as a reddish-orange “star” with magnitude -2.0 in the south-eastern evening sky, and reaches its closest point to the Earth since 2005 on May 30.

*JUPITER appears high in the south-western evening sky, outshining all stars with a magnitude of -2.3

*SATURN reaches opposition on June 3, rising at sunset shortly after Mars and shining its brightest for the year with a magnitude of 0.

*FREE ASTRONOMY EVENTS AT THE OSC*

Check our calendar for more details:www.ontariosciencecentre.ca

MOON PHASES

Full New

OBSERVING TIP: Need a night-sky friendly flashlight?Cover a flashlight's lamp with brown

or red paper to dim its light andpreserve your night vision.

S*T*A*RCHARTFOR LATE SPRING

May/June

* 2016 *

THE CONSTELLATIONS

The star groups linked by lines are theconstellations created by our ancestors thousands of years ago as a way of mapping the night sky. Modernastronomers still use the traditional names, which give today’s stargazers a

permanent link to the sky myths and legends of the past. This season's evening sky features the Big Dipper. Its seven stars are bright enough to be visible through the glow of a city sky. Not a true constellation, the Big Dipper forms pattern of stars found within the constellation known as Ursa Major, or the Great Bear.

OBSERVING HIGHLIGHTS MAY 6 Double-shadow transit of moons Io and Callisto on Jupiter in constellation of Leo in the post-midnight sky

MAY 9 * Mercury transits across the Sun for the first time in 10 years (peaks at ~ 11:00 a.m., EDT)

MAY 14 Conjunction between the Moon and Jupiter, passing within 3˚ of each other in the southern evening sky

MAY 22 * Mars at opposition, shining its brightest in 2016 (rises at sunset, sets at sunrise)

MAY 30 * Mars is at its closest to Earth since 2005 (75,281,058 km)

JUNE 3 * Saturn at opposition, shining its brightest in 2016

JUNE 11 Moon 5˚ from Jupiter in the south-western evening sky

JUNE 20 * Solstice, 6:34 p.m., EDT (summer officially begins in the northern hemisphere) * Impressive or rare event

MAY 6 (3:30 p.m.) JUNE 4 (11:00 p.m.)

MAY 21 (5:14 p.m.)JUNE 20 (7:02 a.m.)

These programs are offered in collaboration with the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada: Toronto Centre.

May 7th, 10th - 14th & June 4th 10 a.m. – 12 p.m.: Solar Observing: Spot sunspots and solar flares through specially filtered telescopes. TELUSCAPEMay 9th, 10 a.m. – 3 p.m.: Mercury’s Rising: Safely observe the transit of Mercury across the face of the Sun. TELUSCAPEMay 11th, 7:30 p.m. – 9:30 p.m.: Speaker’s Night: Learn about the Moon’s history from Sara Mazrouei, University of Toronto PhD Candidate in Planetary Geology. STUDIO 2May 14th, 7:30 p.m. – 10:30 p.m.: Unbelievable Universe Star Party: Stargaze, see Jupiter up close, and learn about the most mind-blowing discoveries in space. TELUSCAPE

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Prepared for the Ontario Science Centre by SkyNews,the Canadian Magazine of Astronomy & Stargazing. SkyNews.ca

SkyNews.ca 1-866-759-0005

Cartography and design by Roberta Cooke. Base chart data derived from maps drawn by Roy Bishop for the Observer’s Handbook, published by The Royal Astronomical Society of Canada.

ROTATING NIGHT SKY: During the night, the Earth’s rotation on its axis slowlyshifts the entire sky. This is the same motion that swings the Sun on its daily east-to-west trek. The rotational hub is Polaris, the North Star, located almost exactlyabove the Earth’s North Pole. Everything majestically marches counter-clockwisearound it, a motion that becomes evident after about half an hour.

TO USE THIS CHART: Hold the chart in front of you and rotate it so the direction you are facing (N,S,E,W) is at the bottom of the chart. The edge of the chart represents the horizon; the overhead point is at centre. On a moonless night in the country, you will see more stars than are shown here; deep in the city, you will see fewer. The ecliptic line is the celestial pathway of the Moon and planets. The star groups straddling this line are known as the zodiac constellations. The Moon is shown for selected dates.

Download our most recent star chart:www.ontariosciencecentre.ca/tour/default.asp?demoid=75

OUR CHART SHOWS the major stars, planets and constellations visiblefrom Canada and the northern United States within one hour of these times:

EARLY MAY: 11:30 P.M.; LATE MAY: 11 P.M.

EARLY JUNE: 10 P.M.; LATE JUNE: 9 P.M.

Download our most recent star chart:www.ontariosciencecentre.ca/tour/live-planetarium-show/