Abrams Planetarium
SKYWATCHER'S DIARY: June 1995
To the reader
The Skywatcher's Diary for June 1995 has been prepared
by David Nette and Robert Victor. Sometimes you can see next month's in advance by looking in our archives. Credit to
Abrams Planetarium,
Department of Physics and Astronomy at
Michigan State University
would be appreciated. Our illustrated
Sky Calendar accompanies
the printed version of Skywatcher's Diary as it is sent monthly to
Michigan newspapers, but does not accompany this Internet version.
If you would like a sample copy, send your request with a self-
addressed, stamped envelope to:
Sky Calendar
Abrams Planetarium
Michigan State University
East Lansing, MI 48824
This month's
most striking sights include the moon passing near planets and
bright stars, on the evenings of June 4, 5, 8, and 11, and on the
mornings of June 12, 15, 25, and 26. Morning events are mentioned
in Skywatcher's Diary one day prior to the event.
-
- At dusk the moon is low in the W to WNW with bright Procyon 11
degrees lower left. The Gemini Twins shine 12 to 16 degrees upper
right of the moon. Jupiter is at opposition, 180 degrees from the Sun
and up all night. Look low in SE at dusk for bright steady yellowish
Jupiter with reddish twinkling Antares 5 degrees lower right.
-
- As dusk deepens, the crescent moon is in W with Procyon, the Little
Dog Star, 12 degrees below. The Gemini Twins, Pollux and slightly
fainter Castor, are to the right of the moon and a little higher.
Mother Goat Star Capella shines low in NW, far to Twins' lower right.
This is our final weekend of shows until September. Call (517) 355-
4672 for information.
-
- Can you see the three bright planets now in the morning sky? An
hour before sunup look low in SW for bright Jupiter with reddish
Antares 5 degrees to its lower left. Look in ESE for yellowish Saturn.
Watch for the rising of Venus in ENE as twilight brightens.
-
- One hour after sundown the moon is well up in the WSW with first-
magnitude Regulus 6 degrees above. Ruddy Mars lies 10 degrees
upper left of the crescent moon and 5 degrees upper left of blue-
white Regulus. Watch Mars sink from nearly halfway overhead
tonight to less than one-third of the way up by month's end.
-
- An hour after sunset the moon, approaching First Quarter, is in the
WSW with reddish Mars 8 degrees to its upper right. Regulus, the
heart of Leo, shines 6 degrees lower right of Mars and 12 degrees
from the moon. Regulus marks the end of the handle of the Sickle,
which forms Leo's head and mane.
-
- This week is the second of three conjunctions of Jupiter and Antares
this year. Watch them travel together across the southern sky these
nights, with the reddish twinkling star Antares only 5 degrees south
of brilliant Jupiter. Their final pairing will come in September.
-
- Tomorrow night, bright Jupiter passes just 1/3 of a degree N of the
4.5-magnitude star Omega Ophiuchi. Can you see the star with
unaided eye? If not, it will be an easy sight for binoculars, twice as
far from the planet tomorrow as the farthest wandering of Callisto,
outermost of Jupiter's four bright Galilean moons. If you look nightly,
this is a great chance to detect the retrograde (apparent backward)
motion of Jupiter from night to night. Jupiter is now moving west by
1/8 of a degree per day, and will come to a stop at its "stationary
point" at the start of August.
-
- The moon is well up, just W of due south at dusk. Bluish Spica, the
spike of wheat in Virgo, shines close to the moon's lower left at dusk.
The moon will occult, or cover, Spica tonight from most of western
and central U.S., except from southernmost California eastward to
most of Texas and Mississippi, where the moon passes narrowly
north of Spica.
From lower Michigan tonight, Spica is only 2 degrees lower left of the
moon at dusk. Use binoculars, or better yet, a telescope to watch the
moon creep ever closer to Spica hour by hour until it covers it (at
2:49 a.m. from Traverse City, 2:57 a.m. from Lansing). By then the
moon and Spica will be about to set across lower Michigan.
Skywatchers farther west in the U.S. will get a better view. Maps
helping to predict the times of the occultation for any locality
appeared in the June issue of Sky & Telescope, pp. 72-73.
-
- The moon is just east of due south at dusk. Spica, in Virgo, shines 12
degrees to the gibbous moon's upper right. Jupiter and Antares are
34 degrees to moon's lower left; watch the moon close in on them
throughout this weekend.
Tonight and Saturday, MSU Observatory will be open for public
viewing, from 9 p.m. until 11 p.m. if skies are clear. Featured will be
telescopic views of the moon and Jupiter.
-
- The moon is in SSE one hour after sunset, with bright Jupiter 18
degrees to its lower left. Antares remains 5 degrees lower right of
Jupiter.
-
- At dusk the nearly full moon is low in the SE with bright Jupiter only
3 degrees to its lower left. Antares in Scorpius is 7 degrees below
the moon and 5 degrees from Jupiter. Watch the moon close in on
Jupiter througout the night. By two hours before sunrise Monday, the
moon is very low in SW with bright Jupiter just 1 degree to its lower
left. Antares is then 7 degrees to the moon's lower left.
-
- The southernmost Full Moon of this year rises in the ESE about half
an hour before sunset, as seen from northern U.S. An hour after
sunset, the "Strawberry Moon" is higher, with bright Jupiter 12
degrees to its upper right. Antares is still 5 degrees south of Jupiter.
Two hours before sunup Tuesday, look for the moon in the SSW to
SW, with Jupiter and Antares about 15 degrees to moon's lower right.
-
- An hour after sunset look high in NW for the seven bright stars of
the Big Dipper. Use its handle to locate two bright stars in the
southern sky: "Follow the arc (of the handle of the Dipper) to
Arcturus, and drive a spike to Spica."
-
- Can you spot the Summer Triangle in the evening sky? Between NE
and E at dusk, in order from left to right, they are Deneb, Vega, and
Altair. Vega, the brightest, is at the top of the Triangle. Altair is
lowest and nearly due east at dusk.
-
- At dusk Mars is well up in WSW, 11 degrees E (upper left) of
Regulus. Bright Jupiter is low in the SE to SSE, 5-1/2 degrees E of
Beta in the head of Scorpius, and 5-1/2 degrees N of Antares. Watch
for changes in their positions against background stars for the rest of
this month. Mars will go E about half a degree per day, while Jupiter
creeps W toward Beta Scorpii by only about 0.1 degree per day.
-
- Look low in NNE two hours after sundown for the W-shaped
constellation Cassiopeia. Watch over the next several hours as
Cassiopeia circles around Polaris, the North Star. Through the night,
Cassiopeia rises higher while the Big Dipper sinks lower, as both
remain on opposite sides of the Pole Star. When it's highest above
Polaris, Cassiopeia resembles an "M", while the Big Dipper is just
above the northern horizon.
-
- The moon now rises well after nightfall, allowing fine views of the
Milky Way. Follow the Milky Way's course through Cassiopeia low in
NNE, through Cygnus and the Summer Triangle, toward the Teapot of
Sagittarius low in SE.
-
- The waning gibbous moon is in the SE an hour before sunup on
Monday, with yellowish Saturn 6 degrees lower left. Note the moon,
approaching Last Quarter, appears slightly more than half full. If
observed with a telescope, Saturn appears "ringless" until August 11,
as the rings' darkened underside is tipped slightly toward Earth until
then.
-
- The moon, past Last Quarter, has passed to the east of Saturn in the
SE an hour before sunup Tuesday morning. Look for the "ringless"
planet 10 degrees to the moon's lower right. In late June-early July,
Saturn's rings are tipped only 0.6 degree from edge-on.
-
- When will you last see Leo the Lion in the evening sky? Look in the
W for first-magnitude Regulus, the heart of Leo. Second-magnitude
Denebola, the tail of the Lion, is higher in the WSW, 25 degrees to
Regulus' upper left. Reddish Mars slightly outshines Regulus. Look
for Mars 13 degrees upper left of Regulus and 14 degrees lower right
of Denebola.
-
- The Summer Solstice occurs at 4:34 p.m. EDT, marking the beginning
of summer! At midday today, from anyplace north of the Tropic of
Cancer, the Sun reaches its greatest altitude of the year above your
horizon. (Midday occurs midway between your local sunrise and
sunset times, and NOT at 12:00 noon.)
-
- At dawn's first light on Friday, the waning crescent moon is very low
in ENE to E. The main stars of Aries the Ram shine 12 degrees above
the moon. Use binoculars to see the Pleiades star cluster just rising
20 degrees to moon's lower left.
-
- One an a half hours before sunup Saturday the thin crescent moon is
very low in the ENE with the Pleiades star cluster 9 degrees to its
left. Just 45 minutes before sunup if you have an unobstructed view,
look for Venus rising 23 degrees to moon's lower left. Binoculars may
show Mercury 6 degrees right of Venus, and Aldebaran 2-1/2
degrees right of Mercury. Viewers from southern and Southwest U.S.
will be favored to see this gathering of two planets and a star
gradually widening over the next few mornings.
-
- Forty-five minutes before sunup Sunday the moon is very low in the
ENE with brilliant Venus 13 degrees lower left. Elusive Mercury is
just 7 or 8 degrees lower left of the crescent, and nearly 7 degrees
upper right of Venus. Aldebaran, eye of Taurus, is 3 degrees right of
Mercury. Use binoculars for Mercury and Aldebaran.
-
- Look early, 30 minutes before sunrise Monday, for the Old Moon
very low in the ENE. Note the crescent appears tipped on its side, as
if pouring its water out. Brilliant Venus is only 4 degrees upper left
of the crescent. Binoculars help locate the pair in bright twilight.
-
- An hour or so after sunset face NW and locate the seven bright stars
of the Big Dipper. Imagine its bowl filled with water. If the bowl
sprang a leak, its contents would pour on the back of poor Leo, now
in the west, and the Lion would let out a loud roar!
-
- The New moon occurs at 8:50 p.m. EDT. The moon, 5 degrees south of
the Sun, is at apogee, the point in its orbit farthest from Earth. The
occurrence of New Moon while far south of the Sun and farthest from
Earth makes the moon linger in the Sun's glare for several days.
-
- An hour before sunrise Saturn is well up in the SSE. Saturn's rings
are 0.6 degree from edge on with the shaded side tipped toward
Earth. Using a telescope, can you see the rings and their shadow as
two narrow dark lines on the face of the planet?
-
- Look early, half an hour after sunset, for the Young Moon very low in
the WNW. Binoculars will aid in the search for the thin crescent in
bright twilight. Viewers in the southern and Southwest U.S., where
the moon sets later in a darker sky, will get an easier view of the 2-
day-old crescent.
-
- Within an hour after sundown the 3-day-old waxing crescent moon
is very low, between W and WNW, with bluish Regulus, the heart of
Leo, 18 degrees to its upper left. That glow you see on the moon's
dark side is earthshine, or sunlight reflected off the Earth to
illuminate the moon.
HTML automatic by swdmarker.pl Thu May 25 21:11:16 EDT 1995 by
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Updated 1995.05.25 by Jenny