May 2025: Moon Quarters, Lion Kings, and Neptune’s Festival

Join Leon and Beth for your monthly dose of stargazing tips, mythological deep dives, and cosmic commentary, recorded at SciTech on Whadjuk Noongar land.

*Content Warning: This episode includes discussion of sexual assault and a survivor’s experience. This content occurs between 40:00 and 52:40.

In this episode:

What’s Up This Month? [01:00] Celebrate Star Wars Day by heading outside on May 4th at exactly 7:13pm! Beth and Leon walk us through how to spot a perfect first quarter moon, locate Mars, and catch the International Space Station fly directly between Castor and Pollux in Gemini. Also featuring: the tiny Canis Minor, and the surprisingly lion-like Leo constellation.

Constellation of the Month: Leo the Lion [10:00] It’s Leon’s time to shine! The crew explores Leo, a constellation that actually resembles its namesake. Learn how to find it in the northern sky this month, how its stars form a backwards question mark, and how both ancient Greeks and Arab astronomers imagined the same great lion in the sky.

Star Stories: The Nemean Lion and Regulus [20:10] Dive into the mythology behind Leo, including Hercules’ impossible battle against the Nemean Lion and the clever trick (or divine advice) that helped him skin the beast. Plus: Harry Potter trivia, the meanings behind Regulus and Denebola, and what Arabic star names reveal about ancient cross-cultural astronomy.

Meteor Showers and Planet Gazing: The Eta Aquarids [33:40] Set your alarms! The Eta Aquarid meteor shower peaks in the early morning hours of May 5th and 6th. With the moon out of the way and meteors zipping by at 70 km/s, this is one of the best sky shows of the year. Bonus: look east to spot Venus, Saturn, and even distant Neptune (with a telescope).

Star Stories II: Neptune the Freshwater God [40:55] Neptune wasn't always the god of the sea! Beth explains how this Roman deity originally ruled over springs and rivers, and only later took on Poseidon's oceanic identity. Hear about Neptunalia—the ancient summer festival of shade, wine, and cool water—and the odd tale of how Neptune ended up inside his father Saturn.

Space Picture of the Month [TBA] …Was there one? Maybe. Possibly. We were distracted by imaginary sausage dogs in the sky. (Sorry, Canis Minor.)