What's in the Sky: Longest days, shortest nights in June

Once again, there are no bright planets in the evening sky. But June begins with a wonderful sight in the morning sky, with the Moon, Mars, and Saturn aligned, similar to what we saw in May. The waning crescent Moon will be located almost exactly between the planets Mars and Saturn, low in the east. Check it out at about 5 a.m. or a bit before. Bright Jupiter and little Mercury may be visible to the left of Mars, close to the location of the rising Sun. They will both be brighter than Mars and Saturn, but may be too low to see. A good reason to get up early on a Saturday morning! If you miss that one, the end of the month brings a similar view. On the 27th, the Moon will be just to the right of Saturn. On the 29th and 30th, the Moon will be between the two planets. 

June’s Moon is new on the 6th, with full Moon coming on the 21st. After it makes its morning visits to the planets early in the month, it enters the evening sky. On June 7, use binoculars to see if you can spot the very faint crescent Moon low in the west, in the constellation Gemini. Look in the west-northwest, to the left of the bright star Capella, at about 9:30 p.m. June 8 will be a bit easier, with the Moon a bit brighter and higher in the sky, just left of the Gemini twins Castor and Pollux. On the 11th, the Moon will be just to the right of the bright star Regulus, in Leo.

Our evening skies may lack planets, but there is plenty to see other than the Moon. The Big Dipper, in the constellation Ursa major, rides high overhead. Alkaid, the star at the very end of the dipper’s handle, will be almost exactly overhead early in the month. Check out the middle star in the dipper’s handle. Can you see two stars, very close together? It makes a test of good eyesight. The brighter star is called Mizar, the fainter companion is Alcor. In a telescope, you see that Mizar is actually two stars, you just can’t make them out as two with the naked eye. Using Spectroscopes, astronomers discovered years ago that both of the stars in Mizar, and also Alcor, are actually binary star systems themselves. So, when you look at Mizar, you are actually seeing the light from six stars!

Hopefully most of you were able to catch the astounding display of “northern lights” in May. The storm on May 20 was the strongest in some 20 years, since 2003. And there may be more. The Sun is nearing the peak of its roughly 11-year cycle of activity, and we may be treated to a show again. There are a number of avenues by which you can get an idea of when activity may occur. If you would like to get email notices, check out NOAA’s “Space Weather Prediction Center.” You can sign up for alerts at Product Subscription Service — Main Menu (noaa.gov). Be warned, you may get a lot of alerts! There are many other sites as well, also a number of cell phone apps that can help.

Enjoy June’s night skies!