This Week's Night Sky: Glimpse the Sombrero Galaxy
As last week's meteor shower tails off, you can spot the hat-shaped galaxy and, in a sky-watching challenge, see the Pleiades pair with Mercury.
The moon makes some pretty pairings this week and provides a guide to a galaxy named for a Mexican hat.
The next meteor shower, the Eta Aquarids, begins to ramp up this week and will peak on May 6, when as many as five to 10 shooting stars per hour should be visible in the pre-dawn hours from a dark locale.
The 300-light-year-distant stellar grouping will be a particular challenge to hunt down in the glare of dusk, so use binoculars. About 45 minutes after sunset, the cosmic duo will be only 10 degrees above the horizon. Look for the cluster a mere 2 degrees (equal to about four lunar disks) to the right of our solar system’s innermost planet.
Mercury should be
