What's Up? June 2024

 Summer is upon us! let us take a look at what’s parading across our skies this month.

Summer Solstice:

June 20th marks the first day of Summer in the northern Hemisphere (And first day of Winter in the southern). A sad day for Astronomers in the North as there technically isn’t any Night at all! The Sun will set at around 21:50 (Newcastle latitude as reference) and then rise just 4 hours and 40 minutes later at 04.30. Due to the path of the Sun making that big sweep across the sky during the day, it barely goes down 10 degrees below the horizon in the North before its back up again. In fact, it’s such a shallow sweep of the horizon line it will barely get dark at all. However, it does mean that the longest day will be behind us and the nights are coming back.

Figure 1: The Earth being tilted towards the Sun means more illumination for all in the North and less illumination for those in the South. Images from timeanddate.com

Constellations: 

Figure 2: The Summer Triangle

Summer is the best time to go hunting for the summer triangle. This is a large triangle of 3 of the brightest stars in the sky, Vega in the constellation Lyra the harp, Deneb in the constellation Cygnus the Swan and Altair in the constellation Aquila the Eagle. The story goes that on midsummer night the triangle is right over head and was used a time keeping tool in the past.   

Planets:

They’re coming back! As we move our way round the Sun, we are catching up with our celestial siblings who will now appear again in the night sky, rather than hiding behind the Sun in the day time sky. Imagine the Planets are pulling the sun across the Sky, so the best time to see them is going to be in the morning rather than at night. Saturn is leading the charge coming over the horizon at around 2.40am at the beginning of the months, followed by Neptune, Mars, Uranus, Jupiter, and Mercury before the Sun comes up. The following image shows the Planet parade on June 3^rd in the wee hours of the morning.

Figure 3: Mercury, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune in a planetary alignment on June 3, 2024, as seen from the Northern Hemisphere. The image is based on data from the Sky Tonight app

On the 2^nd to 3^rd of June Mars and the Moon will be having a conjunction, meaning the moon is going to pass remarkably close by Mars on the Sky. The closest approach will only be seen in the Southern Hemisphere but in the Northern hemisphere we will still see mars and the Moon close to each other. You might be able to fit both in a pair of binoculars.

On the 27^th of June, the moon does the same but with Saturn instead, again the closest approach happening beneath our feet in the Southern hemisphere. 

Moon Phases:

6th: New Moon

14th: Half Moon

22nd: Full Moon

28th: Half Moon

The full moon this month is known as the Strawberry Moon. The origins come from multiple cultures such as Native American and European. June is when Strawberries ripen and picking season begins. Other names are Berries Ripen Moon, Corn moon, Flower Moon, Planting moon and Mead moon, all derived from the situation of nature at the time of the full moon of June.

Clears Skies and Happy Stargazing!