May 18, 2012: On June 5th, 2012, Venus will pass across the face of the sun, producing a silhouette that no one alive today will likely see again.

Transits of Venus are very rare, coming in pairs separated by more than a hundred years. This June’s transit, the bookend of a 2004-2012 pair, won’t be repeated until the year 2117.

The 2012 Transit of Venus – NASA Science

Of course, if you manage to miss May’s Full Perigee Moon, make a note on your calendar.Your next chance to see a Full Moon close to perigee, will be next year on June 23.

APOD: 2012 May 5 – Full Moonrise

The Sky This Week, 2012 May 1 – 8 — Naval Oceanography Portal

Full Moon occurs on the 5th at 11:35 pm Eastern Daylight Time. May’s Full Moon has a number of popular names, among which are the Milk Moon, Flower Moon, Corn Planting Moon, and Hare Moon. This particular Full Moon occurs one minute after lunar perigee, and since perigee coincides with a Sun/Earth/Moon syzygy it is the closest perigee for the year. Luna will be 356,955 kilometers (221,801 miles) from Earth’s center at the time. Popular media have recently dubbed such a phenomenon as a "supermoon", since Luna is about 14% larger in apparent diameter and therefore brighter than a "regular" Full Moon.

The Sky This Week, 2012 May 1 – 8 — Naval Oceanography Portal

The Sky This Week, 2012 May 1 – 8 — Naval Oceanography Portal

May 1st is one of the four so-called "cross-quarter" days that hearken back to traditional calendars of medieval times. These days, along with the seasonal markers of solstices and equinoxes, were the traditional days when serfs paid rent to their feudal masters. Most of these "mid-season" dates are now forgotten, but we still unwittingly observe them in various cultures. Americans are quite familiar with Halloween and Groundhog Day, but May 1st isn’t widely observed on our side of the Atlantic Ocean. However, May Day is still widely celebrated in Europe, especially in countries with a strong Celtic tradition. The fourth cross-quarter day, Lammas, falls around August 1st and is probably the least observed of these traditional times. You can think of May Day as the middle of spring or as the beginning of summer. Either way we are now in the time when the length of daylight exceeds 14 hours, which it will do until early August.

The Sky This Week, 2012 May 1 – 8 — Naval Oceanography Portal

Earth Day 2012 – The Big Picture – Boston.com

April 22 will mark Earth Day worldwide, an event now in its 42nd year and observed in 175 countries. The original grass-roots environmental action helped spur the Clean Water Act and Clean Air Act in the United States. Gathered here are images of our planet’s environment, efforts to utilize renewable alternative sources of energy, and the effects of different forms of pollution. — Lane Turner and Leanne Burden Seidel (35 photos total)

Earth Day 2012 – The Big Picture – Boston.com

From Saturday, April 21 through Sunday, April 29, we invite you to experience the beauty and wonder of 84 million acres of the world’s most spectacular scenery, historic landmarks and cultural treasures for FREE!

National parks across the country will be celebrating with special events including a volunteer day on April 21, Earth Day on April 22 and Junior Ranger Day on April 28. … Join us and our friends at the National Park Service for a chance to explore, learn, share, and give back in our nearly 400 national parks.

Visit www.nationalparkweek.org to learn more and discover the ways you can participate in National Park Week 2012.

GOPARKS

ABQJournal Online » Public Is Behind Wolves; Will Government Get the Message? by Billie Hughes

Fourteen years after those initial reintroductions, the wolves continue to struggle, however. It is not because they are not doing their part. They are forming packs – family units – breeding, raising young and killing elk and deer. They are fulfilling their role in the ecosystem. We need to fulfill our role as stewards, as people with a responsibility to these animals, their ecosystem, and to future generations of Americans. We must ensure that these animals have a chance and that our children can hear their howls decades from now. There is strong support from the public for that. Now we need our government at all levels to get that message.

ABQJournal Online » Public Is Behind Wolves; Will Government Get the Message?

Let the mean-spirited wicked bastards win » Ah, Wilderness!

Now and then, ugly, stupid, mean, and wrong triumph. I’m tired of the slaughter of decent animals by indecent ones.

http://www.usno.navy.mil/USNO/tours-events/sky-this-week/the-sky-this-week-2012-april-3-10

We’ll have to wait quite a while before we see as dazzling a gathering of planets in the western twilight sky as we have seen for the past few months. Now that Venus has left Jupiter in her wake the duo seem to go their separate ways, and their next close conjunction at such a prominent altitude in the evening sky won’t occur until the year 2036. However, early risers in the midsummer months will have a chance to enjoy the pair in close proximity in the morning sky for several weeks in late June and July before they ultimately part company. They will meet about once each year, either before dawn of after sunset, between now and 2036, but most of these encounters will occur in twilight within 15 degrees of the horizon. Favorable evening elongations of Venus, similar to the one she’s undergoing now, occur at eight year intervals, while Jupiter takes about 12 years to go once around the sky. Thus every third favorable elongation of Venus occurs when Jupiter has completed two orbits, and a dramatic conjunction occurs high in the post-twilight sky. Yes, the end of March 2036 should be quite spectacular, with Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and the Moon all visible in the western sky for your entertainment. Better mark those calendars now!

The Sky This Week, 2012 March 27 – April 3 — Naval Oceanography Portal