What's Up in the Night Sky

June 2024 - Vol. 28, No. 6

This Month's Night Sky - NOTE: The next paragraph describes the sky as it appears at 10 pm EST (11 pm EDT) near mid- month. The sky also looks this way at 11 pm EST (midnight EDT) during the beginning of the month and at 9 pm EST (10 pm EDT) by month's end.

Spica (Virgo) glows in the SW while Regulus (Leo) vanishes over the W horizon before midnight. The "big dipper" (Ursa Major's asterism) now stands on its "handle" in the North. Antares (Scorpius) is low on the S horizon. The Eastern sky is dominated by the "summer triangle" asterism: Deneb (Cygnus), Vega (Lyra) and Altair (Aquila). An interesting star tour begins at the last star of the big dipper's handle, Alkaid. Following the curve of the handle, "arc to Arcturus". Now, following the same curve, "spike to Spica" and "continue to Corvus", its distinctive four star, kite-shaped, asterism.

MERCURY gets harder to see in the morning sky, although observers in the southern hemisphere may catch the conjunction of Mercury and Jupiter on June 4. VENUS too close to the Sun this month, reaches superior conjunction on June 4. MARS continues to rise in the morning sky, shining at 1.0 mag by month's end. JUPITER moves away from the Sun after last month's conjunction, rising in the constellation of Taurus. SATURN in the morning sky reaches its first stationary point on June 30. URANUS rises in the morning sky in second half of the month. NEPTUNE rises in the early morning sky, for those with telescopes.

Review how to determine Angular Measurement.

Calendar of Events

NOTE: For those observers not in the ET zone, convert the calendar times to your zone's time by subtracting one hour for CT, two for MT and three for PT. Don't forget to adjust for Daylight Savings Time when necessary by subtracting one hour from your planisphere's time. Dawn and dusk times must also be corrected. See your local newspaper, TV news, or cable TV's Weather Channel for sunrise and sunset times or check with the U.S. Naval observatory. Unfortunately some of these events may occur during daylight hours in your area.

DATE	EVENT
01	Neptune 0.02 deg. N. of Moon, occultation from southern Africa, Madagascar, parts of Asia.
02	Moon at perigee.
03	Mars 2 deg. S. of Moon.
04	Mercury 0.1 deg. S. of Jupiter. Venus at superior conjunction.
05	Moon 0.4 deg. S. of the Pleiades (M-45). Jupiter 5 deg. S. of Moon. Uranus 4 deg. S. of Moon.
9	Alpha Geminorum, Pollux, 1.7 deg. N. of Moon.
13	Mercury at perihelion. Asteroid Juno 0.5 deg. S. of the Moon occultation from tip of India, southernmost SE Asia, Indonesia, Philipines, Australasia, and Oates Land.
14	Moon at apogee. Mercury in superior conjunction.
16	Alpha Virginis, Spica, 1.2 deg. S. of Moon, occultation from SW Svalbard, NE Scandinavia, W. Russia, and Central Asia.
20	Summer solstice in the northern hemisphere. Alpha Scorpii, Antares, 0.3 deg. S. of Moon, occultation from E. China, S. Japan, most of Micronesia, Melanesia, most of Polynesia.
22	This month's full Moon is often called the "Strawberry" as it is the month that strawberries ripen in North America.
23	Mercury at greatest heliocentric lat. N Ceres 1.0 deg. S. of the Moon occultation from most of N. America, Caribbean, S. tip of Greenland, NW Azores.
27	Moon at perigee. Saturn .08 deg. S. of the Moon, occultation from E. Australia, SE Melanesia, most of Polynesia, S. and Central N. America.
28	Neptune .03 deg. N. of the Moon, occultation from Easter Is., Galapagos Is., N. and W. S. America, SE Caribbean, NW Africa, most of W. Europe.
30	Saturn stationary.

Lunar Almanac for June 2024

Phases of the Moon	Phase and Date(s)	Best viewed before local midnight
	New 06	Deep Space Objects
	1st. Qtr 14	Planets & Moon
	Full 21	Moon
	Last Qtr 28	Deep Space & Planets

The Summer Triangle, Constellation: Lyra

The Summer Triangle is an asterism, a group of stars that are not a constellation, but have earned a popular nickname. It is formed of three bright stars that dominate the summer sky, Vega, Deneb, and Altair. Each star is the brightest member of its constellation, they are Lyra, Cygnus, and Aquila respectively. This year, What's Up in Night Sky will pay tribute to the three constellations that are part of the Summer Triangle. This month features Lyra, home of the well known bright star, Vega.

The constellation Lyra is small, but prominent in the Summer sky. The blue giant star, Vega is located in the northern sky, and was at one time a pole star about 14,000 years ago and will be again someday. Vega was one of the first stars to be photographed and early infrared studies showed that it was surrounded by a disk of dust. It far outshines the Beta and Gamma stars of the constellation, Sheliak and Sulafat. Epsilon Lyrae is a fine double star, easily resolved in small instruments. It is sometime called the "Double double", because each of the bright components is a double star itself.

Lyra is also home to a fabulous deep sky object, a planetary nebula that is commonly known as the Ring Nebula. Planetary Nebula are old stars (red giants) that have blown off their outer layers when they run out of fuel to burn. The outer layers, made of gas, expand into space, forming an emission nebula that often has the shape of a ring or bubble. In a good telescope the Ring Nebula will look like a smoke ring, but it is 2,500 light years away. The ring nebula is also known as "M57" and "NGC 6720". It takes a larger amateur instrument to see the central star that is best revealed in a photograph.

There are also two meteor showers that seem to originate in the constellation of Lyra, one in the month of April that lasts for about a week from April 16 - 21 with the peak on the 20th or the 21st. At this time up to 20 meteors may seem to emanate from the direction of Lyra. The Lyrid shower will be best observed after midnight, when the constellation will be rising from the horizon. By the time the Sun rises, the constellation will be overhead and this will be the best time to see the shower unless the moon interferes. In June, the Lyrid shower peaks around the 15th or the 16th with a mere 10 meteors per hour generally reported. To avoid confusing meteors that occur at random on normal nights, be sure that the meteors you are counting actually originate from the area of the sky where the constellation of Lyra resides. This area of the sky is referred to as the "radiant" of the meteor shower that gives the shower its name.

lyra constellation — Summer Triangle: Lyra Constellation

This series will continue over the next few months, describing the constellations that host the three bright stars of the Summer Triangle. It was originally presented in 2015 at Astra's Stargate, and it is being revisited for new visitors to the Gate. Astronomy is blossoming due to the new large instruments and more dedicated observers and researchers. To kick off the new series, we present the view of the ring nebula as captured by the James Webb space telescope (JWST).

james webb ring nebula image — Ring Nebula credit: ESA/Webb, NASA, CSA, M. Barlow (UCL), N. Cox (ACRI-ST), R. Wesson (Cardiff University)

The JWST image captures 10 concentric disks that surround the central star of the planetary nebula. The fine strands of gas emanating from the outer ring of the nebula are shown clearly in the telescope's NIRCam (Near-Infrared Camera). Observations of stars like the star in the center of the Ring Nebula can give astronomers clues to how stars like our own Sun evolve.

--See You Under the Stars, uh, Sky!
Astra for Astra's Almanac