What's in the Sky: Summer solstice means long days and shorter nights

June will not be a big month for viewing planets, except right after sunset, in the west. Brilliant Venus and bright Jupiter will be low in the west all month. At the beginning of June, Jupiter will be a bit higher in the sky than Venus. The two will grow closer together, and pass each other, as we see them, on June 8-9. After that, Venus will be the one higher in the sky. And they will not really be “close” to each other. On June 8, when they appear close, Jupiter will be about 561 million miles from us, while Venus will “only” be about 111 million miles distant. The two bright planets will be joined by a third in early June. Mercury will be visible, a bit lower in the sky and to the right of Jupiter and Venus. An especially nice sight will be on June 16, when the thin crescent Moon joins the three planets.

June’s new Moon will occur on the 14th, with full Moon following on June 29. On the 22nd, the waxing gibbous Moon will lie just to the right of the bright star Spica, in the constellation Virgo. On the 18-19th, the crescent Moon will pass by the bright star Regulus in the constellation Leo.

A relatively dim constellation with an interesting story lies in the southwestern sky in June. Coma Berenices, “Berenices hair,” is located just to the right of the bright start Arcturus. To find Arcturus, look for the handle of the Big Dipper, and follow its arc away from the dipper to a nearby bright star. You are “arcing to Arcturus.” Look about 20 degrees (about the width of two fists held at arm’s length) to the right from Arcturus, and you are looking at Coma Berenices. The “hair” is a cluster of some 40 stars making up an open star cluster. Dark skies are required to make them out, and they make a nice sight in a pair of binoculars on moonless nights.

The constellation is named after Berenice II, wife of Egyptian ruler Ptolemy III in the third century BC. Berenice vowed to sacrifice her long hair, if Ptolemy returned safely from war in Syria, and did so when he did return. However the displayed locks were stolen the next night, and Ptolemy was furious. An astronomer, Conan of Samos, saved the day by telling the King and Queen that Venus had placed the locks of hair among the stars, and pointed toward a beautiful swarm of stars near Arcturus. The swarm of stars had always been there of course, but the King and Queen did not know that!

See if you can find Berenice’s hair on a warm June evening!