SpaceX’s Starship, the most powerful rocket ever constructed, lifted-off from Texas in April to a rowdy reception from onlookers.

However, Starship, which according to CEO Elon Musk underpins plans to send the first humans to Mars, exploded just minutes into its flight. Musk had only given the Starship’s chances of reaching orbit 50 per cent and with other launches planned, he believes that percentage will rise to 80 per cent by the end of 2023.

Aurora

There was another display of the Aurora Borealis, witnessed by many across the region. One of those was Allan Trow, manager of Dark Sky Wales, who captured the northern lights from the Rhigos Mountain.

He said: "Dark Sky Wales had an experience scheduled for the evening but as usual the weather forecasts for the night were giving rain.

"However, at 8pm we had an Aurora alert and decided to head for the Rhigos Mountain. On arrival we faced quite a lot of cloud and I left the cameras in the van.

"However, by 10pm the sky began to clear revealing a mauve colour. By 11pm the sky was clear, and the Aurora was in full flow!"

To find out more about Dark Sky Wales visit www.darkskywalestrainingservices.co.uk

Osiris Rex – The return of precious samples

The Night Sky caught up with Katrin Raynor, astronomy writer and philatelist, who said: “Something exciting is happening this September – the first American spacecraft, Osiris-Rex will return samples from a near-Earth asteroid back to the surface of our own planet. These will not only help scientists understand the properties of asteroids but will allow them to investigate the formation of planets and the possibility of how life began."

In September 2016 NASA launched the Osiris-Rex spacecraft from Cape Canaveral aboard an Atlas V 411 rocket. The spacecraft’s name is an acronym for each of the mission’s goals; Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification, and Security–Regolith Explorer.

A bold mission, the spacecraft orbited the Sun for a year before making a close approach to Earth again. This allowed it to utilise Earth’s gravity and help propel it towards Bennu, eventually rendezvousing with the asteroid in December 2018.

Equipped with spectrometers and photographic equipment, the spacecraft set about establishing the best location on the 480m-wide asteroid’s surface to take samples from. An area within a crater on the surface was selected and finally in October 2021, contact was made.

The spacecraft didn’t land on Bennu but came extremely close (96cm away!) to extend a robotic arm and touch the surface for just five-seconds.

In this time a short burst of nitrogen gas was emitted from the spacecraft to disturb the surface of the asteroid and for small loose rocks and dust to be collected in the sampler head of the robotic arm. It is estimated that the sample collected weighs approximately 60 grams. Osiris-Rex is expected to parachute down to the Utah desert on September 24, 2023.

Abergavenny Astronomical Society open day

Abergavenny Astronomy Society and Usk Astronomical Society, together with the Heads of the Valleys Astronomical Society, held an open day in April at St Michael's centre, Abergavenny.

Nick Busby, chairman of the Abergavenny and Usk societies, said: "The event was attended by more than 60 visitors.

"As it was a lovely sunny day and the Sun is presently very active the opportunity was taken to do some solar observing and visitors were able to view sunspots and prominences through specially designed telescopes.

"There were planetarium shows through the afternoon where visitors were taken on a tour of the night sky and shown the many sights that can be seen this spring either just by eye or with a pair of binoculars.

"Among the attractions was the opportunity to examine and handle a collection of space rocks, or meteorites, which are more than 4.5 billion years old.”

Abergavenny Astronomy Society meets on the last Monday of the month in the Hen and Chickens pub on Flannel Street. For more details go to abergavennyas.org.uk/.

Stars and constellations

As a help to beginners to find their way around the night sky, use the Moon during May to pick out some of the more notable stars on view.

On May 4, the Moon will be positioned to the north of Spica, a brightest star in the constellation of Virgo. On May 7, the Moon will be positioned north of Antares, the brightest star in Scorpius. On May 24, the Moon will lie to the south of Pollux, the brightest star in the constellation of Gemini.

Planets

Venus continues to dazzle in the west north-west during May, far brighter than any other object in the night sky bar the Moon.

Unbelievable but true, Venus has even been known to cast a shadow just as if you were in the moonlight, and given a really dark place to observe with no artificial lighting or indeed moonlight, it is possible to see a shadow cast by Venus.

On Monday May 22, a thin crescent Moon can be spotted to the lower right of Venus. On Tuesday May 23, look for Mars to the left of Venus and the Moon. The following night on Wednesday May 24, Mars will be sat below the Moon, with Venus to the lower right.

During May, many of the other planets are poorly positioned to observe, but for early risers, Saturn may well be spotted low on the east-southeast horizon.

As a guide, on May 13 and 14, the crescent Moon passes below Saturn.

Society meetings

Cardiff Astronomical Society – Thursday May 11, 7.30pm. ‘How to Photograph Galaxies’, Dr Jane Clark. Queen’s Buildings, Cardiff University, CF24 3AA.

Barry Astronomical Society – Monday May 15, 7pm. ‘The Secret Life of Stars’, Sarah Brantingham. Barry Community Centre, Cemetery Road, Barry, CF62 8BP. (via Zoom, not at the centre).

Heads of the Valleys Astronomical Society – Tuesday May 23, 7pm. ‘Beyond Neptune’, Dr Keith Moseley. Ebbw Vale Learning Centre, James Street, NP23 6JG.

Moon phases

Full Moon May 5; third quarter May 12; new moon May 19; first quarter May 27.

Sunrise/sunset

Start of May: Sun rises at 5.44am. Sets at 8.35pm. End of May: Sun rises at 5.01am. Sets at 9.18pm.

* Jonathan is a contributor to the BBC Sky at Night magazine with articles also published in Astronomy Now. He has written three books on astronomy. He is a contributor to CAPCOM, an online magazine which promotes astronomy and spaceflight to the general public. He has also presented on commercial radio. He has also written a book on castles, ‘Fortress Wales’, and was part of the writing team for the BBC Television show ‘The Fast Show’ which won a BAFTA.