by yaska77
Latest edition of our monthly posts, listing upcoming Astronomy events for June. Get inspired, get involved and get sky-watching!
Wednesday 1st June – It is a new Moon today so it will be virtually absent all week, a great time for observing deep sky objects like galaxies and nubulae. There is also a partial solar eclipse in the northern hemisphere. NASA space shuttle Endeavour is scheduled to land at Kennedy Space Center at 02:32 EDT (06:32 GMT/ 07:32 BST)
Thursday 2nd June – Double star Epsilon Lyrae is a challenging target. The split star is near to Vega and will be in an overhead position at about midnight BST
Friday 3rd June – Keep watching the skies for noctilucent clouds, which sometimes appear low down in the northwest (after sunset) and northeast (just before sunrise). These clouds are in the upper atmosphere and are usually too faint to see, becoming visible only when illuminated by sunlight from below the horizon while the lower layers of the atmosphere are in the Earth’s shadow
Noctilucent clouds over Sweden - Credit: P-M Hedén
Friday 10th June – Saturn is close to the double star Porrima in Virgo this evening (and has been getting closer in the past few weeks). The planet will be located at just 15 arcminutes (about half a full Moon diameter) from the star
Saturday 11th June – The waxing gibbous Moon is about 80% lit, and will appear to the south east of Spica (also in Virgo) the 15th brightest star in the night sky
Sunday 12th June – Mercury is in superior conjunction with the Sun and not currently visible. After this date however the planet will slowly start to re-appear in the evening sky being visible from around 16th onwards. Moon is at Perigee (367,190 km)
Monday 13th June – Watch out for the Moon over the next couple of nights as it rises over the southern horizon. Now is the best time of year to experience the “Moon-Illusion” which makes the moon look bigger than it actually is
Wednesday 15th June – Tonights full Moon will be completely eclipsed as it appears above the south east horizon in the UK. It will be visible from Moon-set in Austraila to Moon-rise in the UK. Totality for UK viewers should last for about an hour from rise at 21:00 BST, and will get easier to see as the Moon gets higher
We're hoping the skies are clear so we can take similar pictures of the actual eclipse! Credit: Sky-Watching/A.Welbourn
Sunday 19th June – Another beautiful double star Beta Cygni (or Albireo) is a must see tonight through a small telescope. Located at the foot of the asterism of the northern cross (in Cygnus the Swan), Albireo has a bright yellow primary star next to a dimmer, blue companion
Tuesday 21st June – Summer solstice is today, so the Sun will be at its highest in the sky all year, perfect for solar observing. Remember, do not look directly at the Sun, or use unmodified telescopes. Always use correctly certified filters, or better still a purpouse built Solar Telescope
Friday 24th June – Mercury is visible as a point of light low down in evening twilight sky just after sunset. Look just to the left of the point the Sun disappeared below the horizon at around 21:45 BST (20:45 GMT). Moon at Apogee (404,270 km)
Saturday 25th June – The centre of the Milky Way Galaxy will be visible in dark skies to the south just after midnight. For the remainder of the month the Moon will be below the horizon giving you a great opportunity to view and photograph this most spectacular part of our home galaxy
The Milky Way as photographed over the French Alps - Credit: Marc Sylvestre (Image links to NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day from 2002)
Monday 27th June – The June Boötids Meteor Shower should reach its peak tonight, and although it usually only sees 1 to 2 meteors per hour, it has been known to give bursts of up to 100 per hour. Keep an eye towards the constellation Boötes from around 22:30 BST.
Should the weather allow we’re targeting the Lunar eclipse and the Milky Way for imaging this month, so keep watching for any new photos and wish for clear skies!
Remember, it can take your eyes up to 20 minutes to become properly dark adapted, and anything up to an hour for a telescope to reach ambient temperature outside (to ensure the best image), so give yourself plenty of time to get set up!
Archive: Astronomy Events – May 2011
Archive: Astronomy Events – April 2011
Archive: Astronomy Events – March 2011
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Filed under: Astronomy, Moon, Nebula, Night sky, Resources, Stars, yaska77 Tagged: 2011, 550D, albireo, amateur, Apogee, astronomical, Astronomy, astrophotography, binoculars, bootes, bootids, camera, Canon, ccd, clouds, cluster, comet, crescent, cygnus, double star, eclipse, Endeavour, EOS, epsilon, events, galaxy, gibbous, highlights, lunar, lyrae, Mercury, meteor, milky way, Moon, moon illusion, NASA, Nebula, new, noctilucent, owl, Perigee, porrima, postaweek2011, Saturn, shower, sky-watching, solar, solstice, spica, star, STS-134, summer, telescope, the, vega, Virgo, waning, waxing
