June 2007

PLANETS

This sky chart shows the western evening twilight sky on June 5 at 8:15 p.m. from southern Arizona. This sky chart is most useful for the contintental United States, southermost Canada and northern Mexico. This sky chart shows the western evening twilight sky on June 17-18 and on June 29 at 8:15 p.m. from southern Arizona. This sky chart is most useful for the contintental United States, southermost Canada and northern Mexico. This sky chart shows Jupiter, the Moon and the southeastern evening sky from June 27-28 at around 8:30 p.m. from southern Arizona. This sky chart is most useful for the southern United States and northern Mexico. This sky chart shows Mars, the Moon and the eastern evening sky on June 10-11 at around 4:15 a.m. from southern Arizona. This sky chart is most useful for the southern United States and northern Mexico.

Saturn and Venus group in the west; Jupiter at opposition and brightest this year

June 2007 is still a good time to see Saturn in the evening but the ringed world is sinking out of view in the western sky. Flandrau continues to host public viewing of the planet Saturn Wednesday through Saturday nights weather permitting, and during special events in June. What makes this month’s views of Saturn particularly interesting is its proximity to the planet Venus at the end of June. Things get interesting mid-month, when Venus, Saturn and Regulus are lined up in the west. By June 17 the Moon enters the scene making for a beautiful line up. Each successive evening Venus and Saturn move closer in our sky. By Friday night June 29 the two planets are one-degree apart. But on Saturday June 30 and Sunday, July 1st Saturn and Venus will be grouped within one-half of one degree of sky offering skywatchers a great opportunity to use a telescope to view both planets in a single field of view. This is the best overall grouping of two bright planets this year.

Saturn is still high enough in the sky during the early evening hours to offer good views of its amazing rings in Flandrau’s 16-inch observatory telescope, weather permitting. Fairly sharp telescopic views should be available during the first half of June (weather permitting), 25 minutes after sunset by around 8 p.m, one hour after the telescope opens. Because Saturn is slowly sinking out of view, visitors should come early in the month to view it (Saturn may be too low to view by 8:30 p.m. late in the month). Saturn appears to the unaided eye as a zero magnitude star-like object that does not twinkle. Look for the waxing crescent Moon near Saturn in the evening sky of Monday evening June 18. As with any planet, viewing is dependent on atmospheric stability and conditions, and of course, the quality and size of the telescope used.

Brilliant Venus, grouped wonderfully close to Saturn by the end of the month (see above), is near its highest in the western evening twilight all month long. It reaches greatest elongation on June 9, when farthest apart from the Sun in our sky. However because of the position of Venus in our sky it sets earlier after sunset and is closer to the horizon than in May. By the end of June it’s setting 2.5 hours after the Sun. The 3 day-old waxing crescent Moon, will be close to and below Venus in our evening twilight sky on June 17, while above Venus on Monday, June 18.

Bright Jupiter is closest to Earth and farthest from the Sun (at opposition) on June 5. It is located in the east or front portions of Scorpius, the Scorpion and easily found 90 minutes to 1 hour after sunset in the southeast. Jupiter is highest (at 35 degrees in altitude) due south at 1 a.m. in early June, at midnight in mid-June, and at 11 p.m. in late-June. The giant planet is located in our sky not far from the reddish super-giant star Antares for much of the month. Jupiter is about 10 degrees away from Antares (the Rival of Mars, and the heart of the Scorpion) all month long. Also, look for the nearly full, waning gibbous Moon to be nearest Jupiter (but well below it) this month in the southern sky on Friday morning, June 1.

Ruddy <b>Mars</b> is slowly brightening and gaining altitude in the pre-dawn sky. By late June Mars has brightened to 0.8 magnitude and is over 30 degrees in altitude, one hour before sunrise, in the eastern morning sky. Mars drifts eastward out of the constellation Aquarius, the Water Bearer and into Pisces, the Fish this month. The thin waning crescent Moon will rise near Mars on Sunday, June 10. Mars will linger, gain altitude and brighten in the east for many weeks, and will move east among the constellations, reaching its bright opposition date in December when it will be close to Earth and bright and large in a telescope.

Visitors to Flandrau’s 16-inch telescope should note that the planets Venus and Saturn are the only planets visible in the telescope during June, with Jupiter coming into view late in the month, just before the telescope closes at 10 p.m. The telescope is open, weather permitting, Wednesday through Saturday nights (excluding select holidays). The telescope normally closes at 10 p.m.

Finally, remember that in spotting planets there is a general rule: ’stars twinkle, planets don’t’. This is because stars are point sources of light; therefore starlight is easily disturbed and shifted by air currents in the Earth’s atmosphere. However when looking at Mercury right now, it may appear to twinkle somewhat; however, this twinkling is of a slower nature than the bright stars.

The northern evening sky on June 15 at 9:30 p.m.. The This sky chart shows much of the western half of the sky at 10:30 p.m. in early June, at 9:30 p.m. in middle June and at 8:30 p.m. in late June. This star chart is useful for the entire United States and northern Mexico. The bright stars Antares and Vega contrast one another near the ends of the bright summer Milky Way. This sky chart shows the sky in early June at 11PM, in middle June at 10PM and late June at 9PM, and is most useful for the southern United States and northern Mexico.

JUNE EVENING STARS

The Big Dipper is easy to find in June, high in the northern evening sky. Look for the Big Dipper high in the north 1 hour after sunset. Take the two end stars off of the bowl (the Pointer stars) and point down to Polaris, the North Star. Polaris is a star of ordinary brightness, and marks the end of the handle of the Little Dipper. Polaris can also be found about 30 degrees (or 3 fists) above the northern horizon. Polaris stays put in the sky; to the eye it doesn’t appear to move. This is because Earth’s axis is pointed toward Polaris in space.

Bright stars of the June evening sky (1 hour after sunset) include ruddy Antares in the southeast, the bright yellow star Arcturus high overhead, and the blue star Spica, high in the south. Locate the bright yellow star Arcturus and the blue star Spica by recalling, “Follow the arc (of Big Dipper’s handle) to Arcturus and drive a spike to Spica”, or simply “Arc to Arcturus and spike to Spica”. Although Spica is said to mark the spike or ear of wheat in the hand of Virgo, it really looks like the bottom of a group of stars in Virgo that make up a diamond or kite shape.

Rising above the northeastern horizon in early June one hour after sunset is bright Vega, the brightest star of the summer sky. Blue-white Vega in the northeast contrasts sharply with Antares, the baleful red supergiant star of summer, now rising in the southeast in early June evenings. By late June its orange-red twinkling enlivens the southern sky, giving reason to its name “the rival of Mars”. From the southern United States Antares does not get very high, only about 30 degrees (or three fists held at arm’s length) above the southern horizon, because of its position in the southern sky. From Australia though Antares can be seen overhead in June and July. Antares is the brightest part of a most impressive scroll of stars, sort of like a long letter S fallen halfway forward. And in this case the S stands for the constellation it is part of: Scorpius.

The Milky Way Prominent in the Late Night Hours!

The summer Milky Way is brightest towards the south in the late night hours in June. This chart shows the southern sky from southern Arizona and northernmost Mexico at 11:00 p.m. in early June, 10 p.m. in middle June and 9 p.m. in late June.

Look for the Milky Way to rise late on moon-less June evenings; It will be brightest around the constellation Scorpius, the Scorpion. The Milky Way, the galaxy of stars, gas and dust our solar system resides in, is prominent all summer long, but is brightest after midnight in June. To see it, you’ll need to get away from city lights to a dark location, and look on a night when there’s not much interference from the moon. The Milky Way will appear as a “cloudy” band stretching clear across the sky. High power binoculars and telescopes reveal the Milky Way to be clouds of stars, millions of them, with attendant star clusters and gas clouds making up some of the “fuzzier” spots you’ll see.

Summer Solstice on Wednesday, June 21

The Sun continues to move higher in our early June sky, hence the warmer temperatures. On the date of the summer solstice the Sun will be highest this year in the northern hemisphere sky at local noon and will set furthest in the northwest. This year the northern hemisphere summer solstice occurs for southern Arizona on the morning of Thursday June 21, at 11:11 a.m. (MST or Tucson time). Summer begins then as the Sun stands directly at local noon over the Tropic of Cancer. Throughout the northern hemisphere, the solstice midday Sun is the highest of the year, and days are longest.

MOON PHASES

The first quarter Moon will be on the evening of Saturday, June 3. The June full moon is the Full Rose Moon (as named by Europeans), which will occur on Sunday night June 11th into the morning of Monday June 12th. This full moon is the lowest this year, and should appear deceptively large to many people. To find out more on this illusion go to NASA’s explanation of the 2005 “Summer Moon Illusion”. This month’s last quarter Moon will occur on the morning of Sunday June 18th and new moon will be on Sunday June 25.

These dates and times are for southern Arizona, and are not necessarily Greenwich Mean Time dates, the moon phase dates used for calendars.

Note: Additional information can be accessed by phone at Flandrau Science Center’s Astronomy Newsline at (520) 621-4310 or as a menu option at 621-S-T-A-R.

Graphics done using Starry Night Enthusiast and Adobe Photoshop. To purchase Starry Night Enthusiast go to http://StarryNight.com