See it first

Look for a new meteor shower this weekend – First pass ever Saturday May 24. Camelopardalids may be the biggest shower of the year. Close pass of 209/Linear, 2004, would be the cause. This has the potential to be an extraordinary shower – Look for it from midnight to sunrise (2am-4am specifically but not sure when the peak really will be). Gaze overhead north in the direction of Polaris. Gemini Planet Imager telescope in Chile sees exoplanets – extremely sensitive camera uses adaptive optics and a coronagraph to directly see planets orbiting other stars more easily. In testing right now, GPI will start full-time use in November hunting exoplanets at 600 nearby stars over the next 3 -4 years. Mercury low in the northwest 40 minutes after sunset, then Jupiter high in the west; Mars over in the east followed by Saturn.