Hello! This is Karl Hricko of United Astronomy Clubs of NJ bringing you the May Astronomy Update for the WNTI listening area.

If the theories of some are correct, you don’t have to go to Egypt to see the Sphinx. You can just look up and see it in the night sky. The idea is that the constellation of Leo the Lion was projected down to the plateau of Giza in the form of a statue called the Sphinx. It has the body of a lion and the head of what may be Virgo the maiden, or one of the Pharaohs.

What is known with greater certainty is that the Sphinx was constructed at least 4,500 years ago, with the purpose of some celestial alignment in mind. It faces the east to greet the rising Sun, and in March and September, the equinox Sun shines directly into its eyes. According to ancient Egyptian texts, the Sphinx represents Horemakhet or “Horus of the Horizon”, the personification of the divine rising Sun.

The heavens are filled with many riddles, but one of them is not the riddle of the Sphinx. Residing in Leo, the planet Saturn still shines with its golden light high in the evening sky. It remains near the star Regulus, which is located at the bottom of Leo’s sickle-shaped head.

Mars is seen in the west at dusk. It will move from Gemini to Cancer the Crab, so that at the end of the month it will be passing through the Beehive star cluster. At morning twilight, Jupiter can be located in the south, in Sagittarius.

So whether you see the Sphinx or Leo the Lion, you’ll still enjoy the gold of Saturn, the ruddiness of Mars and the majesty of Jupiter.