The chart above shows the night sky over Shillong during the month of May 2017 at 8.00 p.m. Shillong being at 25.5o N,latitude we see mostly northern constellations. The E-W line shows the celestial equator and the line cutting it shows the zodiac line or the sun’s apparent path. The capital letters indicate the name of constellations and the other letters indicate the prominent stars. Planet Jupiter and is visible overhead and planet Saturn in the eastern sky and will be visible most of the time in the night.
The prominent constellations visible are Leo, Virgo, Bootes, Libra, Gemini, Ursa major,Cygnus, Lyra,Scorpius Hercules, Hydra, Corvus,Draco and Cepheus.
The constellation of the month is Virgo or the maiden.Virgo is a zodiacal constellation and is second only to Hydra in area. The most prominent star in the constellation is α, Spica, southern-most of the seven brightest stars, with mag 0˙91 and a location 220 light years from the Sun. The star is a variable, with a spectroscopic binary and appears as a hot white object. Star γ, of mag 2˙5 and an absolute mag of 2˙6 is a close binary. It lies at a distance of only 36 light years. Far to the west of the constellation lies β, Zavijava, of mag 3˙8, and to the north ε, Vindemiatrix, is a mag 2˙86 star of spectral type G9 with an absolute mag of 0˙6 at a distance of 90 light years.
Virgo lies adjacent to Coma Berenices and the northern border of Virgo contains many interesting nebulae – all external galaxies. Most notable are M58, M59, M60, M84, M87, M89 and M90. On the south-western border (with Corvus) the telescope will reveal the magnificent Sombrero Galaxy (M104). M49 and M61 lie between stars β and ε.
Full moon will be on 11th may and new moon on 26th may..