Two horses (one with wings), a dolphin, a pair of fish, an eagle, a wolf, and a swan are part of the celestial May morning menagerie.

And find out where the M comes from in object names like M44.

In May 2021: Mercury and Venus are evening objects, Mars visits the twins, Saturn and Jupiter shine in the morning, and there's a total lunar eclipse.

A comet discovered about 150 years ago has left traces of its existence for us to see for thousands of years. Get ready for the April Lyrid meteor shower.

And when you see the sun or moon rise or set, you're seeing it over the horizon.

The beliefs we cling to most are the ones we convince ourselves of. Percival Lowell's conclusions about canals on Mars and Venus are examples. What did he really see?

Many people, even some who like astronomy, do something that's harmful to it. Our modern lifestyles require lighting at night. But do we really need so many lights on in so many places casting so much light where it's not useful? Light pollution keeps us from enjoying the night sky--a most wondrous natural resource above us.

And we don't talk about a full Venus or a first quarter Venus. But somewhat like the moon, the planet has phases.

Venus is an evening object again, and Mercury will join it. But both are horizon huggers. Mars is easier to see as it moves from Taurus to the feet of Gemini. Saturn and Jupiter are getting easier to see in the morning. If you're in the right place on April 2nd, you can see Jupiter pass right in front of a star. The April Lyrids meteor shower peaks this month. There's a so-called supermoon. And Uranus goes into conjunction with the sun. Also, a little extra information about the word asteroid. Maybe we should say planetoid.

If someone mentions the planet Vulcan now, you probably think of the fictional world that's home to Mr. Spock on Star Trek. But there was a time when some astronomers believed there was a real planet they called Vulcan orbiting our sun.

You never hear much about the constellation Leo Minor. 

A legend claims you can balance an egg on its end only on the equinox.

And have you noticed there are no green stars?

Every once in a while, you hear about something from space that might crash into the earth. It happens just often enough to make some of us worry about it.

This month, a cluster of planets rises shortly before the sun, the southern hemisphere gets a good view of Mercury, Mars passes by the Pleiades, Venus is atypically invisible, the asteroid Vesta is at opposition, and Earth goes through an equinox.