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Brought to
you by Skywatcher's Diary: June
2006
An hour after sunset look in the west for bright
Saturn 14 degrees lower right of the Moon, and faint
Mars 8 degrees lower right of Saturn. The gap between
Mars and Saturn is closing by half a degree per day, and
in 16 days, on June 17, Mars will overtake Saturn. Wait
until darkness falls, then use binoculars to see the
Beehive cluster of stars just upper right of Saturn. In
the first few evenings of June, Saturn goes past the
southern edge of the cluster, which lies some 600 light
years away.
 As the sky darkens, look
for Regulus, heart of Leo, just 3 degrees lower right of
the fat crescent Moon.
The brightest "star" in south-southeast at dusk and
drifting through south as June progresses is actually
the planet Jupiter. That giant world is bright enough to
catch your attention, but if you face the western sky
you can find three additional planets, described
tomorrow.
Unlike the nearby Moon, faraway planets change their
positions slowly, so a description of their arrangement
at dusk will remain roughly true for several days. If
the landscape to your west-northwest (the direction of
sunset) has not too high a profile, you'll be able to
spot the lowest one, Mercury, closest planet to the Sun,
in a fine appearance lasting most of June. Mars is 28
degrees to upper left of Mercury and within 7 degrees
lower right of bright Saturn in the west. These three
planets and Jupiter in SSE form a long line across the
sky, in order Mercury-Mars-Saturn-Jupiter. Also along
that line, between Saturn and Jupiter, you'll find the
Moon, lying midway between the stars Regulus and Spica
this evening, 27 degrees from each.
 This evening, Mars and
Saturn are just 6 degrees apart and closing. Look for
the star Spica, marking the spike of grain in Virgo's
hand, 15 degrees lower left of the Moon and 17 degrees
upper right of bright Jupiter.
At dusk Spica is just 3 degrees lower left of the
Moon. Bright Arcturus passes south of overhead before
nightfall. You can use the handle of the Big Dipper to
"follow the arc to Arcturus and drive a spike to Spica."
Early this evening, bright Jupiter is 8 degrees left
of the Moon, while the star Spica is 9 or 10 degrees to
Moon's upper right. In the west, Mars is now just 5
degrees lower right of Saturn; can you fit both within
the same binocular field? Mercury is 25 degrees lower
right of Mars.
At dusk, bright Jupiter is 8 degrees to Moon's upper
right. In the west, Saturn and Mars appear 4.7 degrees
apart, just a little more than the 4.5-degrees gap
between the "Twin" stars of Gemini to their lower right,
Pollux and Castor. Pollux and Mercury are to lower right
of Mars, by 11 degrees and 24 degrees.
 See a red star! This
evening as sky darkens, look 11 degrees to Moon's lower
left for the red supergiant star Antares, the heart of
the Scorpion. Despite this star's great distance of some
600 light years, and its low surface temperature
compared to the Sun's, it still shines in our sky at
first magnitude.
At dusk, look for Antares 2 or 3 degrees to Moon's
upper right. In order from southeast to west-northwest,
five solar system bodies,
Moon-Jupiter-Saturn-Mars-Mercury, span 150 degrees.
Jupiter now passes due south before twilight ends.
Rising by 9:56 p.m. tonight in East Lansing, MI, some
40 degrees south of east and 16 degrees lower left of
Antares, is the southernmost Full Moon of this year.
Indeed, because of an 18- to 19-year precession of
"wobbling" of the Moon's orbit, tonight we see the
southernmost rising Full Moon in many years and for many
to come. Landscape features may delay the observable
moonrise by several minutes. Turn around as twilight
deepens to look low in west-northwest for Mercury 10
degrees below the "Twins", Pollux and Castor, forming an
isosceles triangle. In the west, to the upper left of
the Twins, are Mars and Saturn, 3 degrees apart. From
East Lansing, the Moon reaches its highest point, due
south only 18 degrees up, overnight at 2:05 a.m.
Tonight's Moon rises only half a degree to the north
(left) of last night's, and an hour later, at 10:56 p.m.
for observers in East Lansing, MI. 
For the rest of tonight, the Moon resides near the
handle of the Teapot of Sagittarius. The glare of the
nearly full Moon may prevent you from seeing the 2nd and
3rd-mag. stars with your unaided eye, so use binoculars
to pick out the four stars, all within a few degrees of
the Moon.
This evening, find Mars and Saturn just 2.2 degrees
apart, just under half the separation of the Gemini
Twins to their lower right. Mercury is 22 degrees lower
right of Saturn and 8 degrees below Pollux, the brighter
Twin.
As soon as the sky becomes dark, use binoculars to
see Mars within 1.7 degrees lower right of Saturn and
near the western edge of the Beehive cluster. On
Thursday, Mars will appear within the cluster.
Locate four planets in the current early
evening sky. Begin with the strikingly close
Saturn-Mars pair just 1.2 degrees apart in the west,
and Mercury, Pollux, and Castor in the WNW, to
the pair's lower right. Next, find bright Jupiter
in the southern sky. The lineup of four planets,
Mercury-Mars-Saturn-Jupiter, spans 110 degrees across
the sky. Near that line, between Saturn and Jupiter,
look for the bright stars Regulus in Leo and
Spica in Virgo. Extend the line past Jupiter to
find Antares, heart of Scorpius, in the
southeast. The Big Dipper helps find several
stars: A line extended from the Pointer stars of the
Dipper's bowl leads to Polaris, the North Star,
in the north. The Big Dipper's curved handle, extended,
leads you to Arcturus, high in the south, and
Spica, west of Jupiter. Water leaking through the
bottom of the Dipper's bowl would trickle onto the back
of Leo, the Lion, in the west. Next, look between
east and northeast to find the bright Summer
Triangle of Vega, Deneb, and Altair. Finally,
as the sky darkens, use binoculars or a telescope to see
the faint stars of the Beehive cluster surrounding Mars.
 In the west an hour after
sunset, find faint Mars just 0.8 degree to the right of
bright Saturn. They'll appear closest tomorrow evening,
marking the 34th anniversary of the Watergate break-in!
In the western sky early this evening, Mars passes
within 0.6 degree (just over a moon's width) to the
north, or upper right, of Saturn. Mercury is 17 degrees
to their lower right. As the sky becomes dark,
binoculars show the Beehive cluster just to the lower
right of the close pair.
 This morning the Moon is at
Last Quarter phase, half full and 90 degrees (a
quarter-circle) west of the Sun. This evening, Mars is
0.7 degree above Saturn. Mercury is 16 degrees to
Saturn's lower right and within 6 degrees to lower left
of Pollux.
An hour after sunset, look for Mars 1.1 degrees upper
left of Saturn. This week, Mars slowly widens its
distance upper left of Saturn, to 2 degrees on June 21,
and to 3 degrees on June 23.
Sunset tonight and Wednesday, and sunrise on
Wednesday, are the northernmost of the year, as summer
begins on Wednesday at 8:26 a.m. EDT. Tonight at dusk,
Mercury, "rounding the bend" of its orbit, reaches its
greatest angular distance from the Sun, 25 degrees this
time around, but has already started to drop lower and
fade. Look for it 15 degrees lower right of Saturn.
Faint Mars is 1.5 degrees to Saturn's upper left.
The center of our Galaxy, just west of the Teapot of
Sagittarius, reaches its high point in the south, within
a quarter-hour before the middle of the night (halfway
from sunset to sunrise), which occurs at 1:40 a.m. in
East Lansing. Follow the Milky Way river of light east
of overhead through the Summer Triangle, then downward
through Cassiopeia and Perseus in the northeast. When we
look at the Great Cygnus Star Cloud high in the east, we
are peering into our own curving spiral arm, through
stars which lie ahead of us and slightly inward from our
orbit of revolution around the center of our Galaxy.
Binoculars spectacularly reveal the haze of the Cygnus
Star Cloud to consist of large numbers of stars! That
star cloud, easily found near the main axis of the
Northern Cross, passes nearly overhead two hours earlier
each month, and so in the late evening by late in
August.
Soon after morning twilight gets underway on
Wednesday, watch for Venus rising in ENE 21 degrees
lower left of the waning crescent Moon, and the
beautiful Pleiades star cluster 7 degrees upper left of
Venus. Moon appears 9 degrees upper right of Venus 1-1/2
hours before sunrise on Thursday.
On Friday 1-1/2 hours before sunup, look in
east-northeast for Venus 7 degrees right of the waning
crescent Moon, and the Pleiades star cluster 6 degrees
upper left of Venus and 4 degrees to upper right of the
Moon.
Last chance to see the old crescent Moon comes on
Saturday. About an hour before sunrise, find bright
Venus in ENE, then look for the very thin Moon very low,
18 degrees to Venus' lower left. Watch for Aldebaran,
eye of Taurus, rising 10 degrees lower left of Venus and
12 degrees right of the Moon and a bit lower. As sunrise
approaches (for mid-Michigan) the old crescent is about
30 hours before New.
Jupiter now passes due south, more than a third of
the way toward overhead, just over half an hour after
sunset, for the latitude of East Lansing, MI. Binoculars
easily show Jupiter's brightest moon Ganymede after dark
tonight, closely west (right) of the planet. The other
three bright moons, Io, Europa, and Callisto, all appear
to the left of the planet tonight, and closer in.
New Moon occurs today at 12:05 p.m. EDT, and won't be
seen until Monday at dusk. Low in WNW an hour after
sunset this evening, faint Mars is 4 degrees upper left
of Saturn, and fading Mercury has sunk 11 degrees to
Saturn's lower right.
By sunset in mid-Michigan, the Moon's age has passed
33 hours. Look half an hour after sunset for the very
slender young crescent Moon very low in west-northwest.
Using binoculars about half an hour later as the sky
darkens, try for Pollux within 3 degrees above and
slightly right of the Moon, Castor 6 degrees to Moon's
upper right, Mercury 9 degrees to Moon's left and a
little higher, and bright Saturn 11 degrees to Mercury's
upper left. Faint Mars is 4.5 degrees upper left of
Saturn.
An hour after sunset, find the 2.4-day old Moon low
in WNW, with Saturn 6 degrees to its upper left, and
Mars 5 degrees upper left of Saturn. Lower and more
difficult are the Twins far to Moon's lower right, and
Mercury 6 degrees below the Moon.
An hour after sunset, look in W to WNW for the
crescent Moon, with Mars 1-1/2 degrees below it, Regulus
14 degrees to Moon's upper left, and Saturn just over 5
degrees lower right of Mars. For the next week, Mercury
stays 10 degrees lower right of Saturn, but is fading
rapidly and sinking lower, keeping pace with departing
Saturn.
As the sky darkens, the star Regulus, heart of Leo,
can be found within 2 degrees to Moon's lower left. Dim
Mars and bright Saturn are 6 degrees apart, lying 13 and
19 degrees lower right of the Moon.
Note lineup of three objects to lower right of the
Moon at dusk: Regulus 11 degrees lower right of Moon,
Mars 13 degrees lower right of Regulus, Saturn just over
6 degrees lower right of Mars. Extend the line east from
the Moon toward Spica and Jupiter (which the Moon will
overtake July 3-5) and Antares (which the Moon will
reach on July 7).
Thanks to
SkyWatcher's Diary for the Viewing
Guide |
