{"id":649,"date":"2021-05-29T00:00:56","date_gmt":"2021-05-29T00:00:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.skycaramba.com\/monthly\/?p=649"},"modified":"2021-06-30T02:24:27","modified_gmt":"2021-06-30T02:24:27","slug":"june-2021","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.skycaramba.com\/monthly\/june-2021\/","title":{"rendered":"June 2021"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

As June begins,\nMercury is retreating into the sunset. If you can find it, it’ll\nprobably be only on the first few evenings of the month. Venus is\nabove it, approaching the feet of Gemini. The constellation itself\nisn’t particularly easy to see. The bright stars Castor and Pollux\nstand out, but the rest don’t get much time to shine as Gemini sets\nin the twilight. While Mercury disappears evening to evening, Venus\nmoves into the heart of Gemini as Mars leaves the constellation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Venus<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The\nmoon passes near Venus on the 11th<\/sup>\nand 12th<\/sup>.\nThe planet is a little left of Mebsuta by this time while Mars is\nclearly on its way toward Cancer. The moon passes by the red planet\non the 13th<\/sup>.\nLook for Venus above Wasat on the 17th<\/sup>.\nVenus is moving a lot faster than Mars. If you have even just a\nlittle experience in astronomy, you are right to expect that the two\nare heading for a close call in a few weeks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Venus<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Around\nthe 22nd<\/sup>,\nMars is getting close to M44, known by two other names\u2014Praesepe and\nthe Beehive cluster. Take a look in binoculars or a low power\ntelescope for a wondrous view of an open cluster with more than 1,000\nstars. If you can see it in a dark sky, you will see the manger\n(Praesepe is Latin for the word) the ancient Greeks and Romans saw\ntwo donkeys eating from. Those donkeys are the nearby stars called\nAsellus Borealis and Asellus Australis, respectively the northern and\nsouthern donkeys.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Mars<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

By the 26th<\/sup> or 27th<\/sup>, Mars has left M44 behind But Venus’ approach makes it clear it will visit the cluster in July. The rendezvous comes July 3. Just nine and ten evenings later comes the close call between Venus and Mars as they head toward Leo.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On\nthe other side of the sky, Libra and Scorpius rise at sunset. Saturn\nrises at approximately midnight local time. The ringed planet is deep\nin Capricornus, providing a good opportunity to learn this dimmer\nconstellation if you haven’t already. Jupiter and a nearly last\nquarter moon rise a little after Saturn on the 1st<\/sup>.\nJupiter is in Aquarius. Saturn slowly moves westward (retrograde) all\nmonth and is visited by the moon on the 27th<\/sup>.\nThe moon is near Jupiter again two mornings later.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Jupiter<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Jupiter is moving\neastward (direct motion) when June begins but is still enough that\nsome almanacs would call it stationary by the middle of the month. By\nthe end of June, it’s retrograde.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Mercury<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The Pleiades rise\nas dawn approaches. You also get a good view of Pisces this month.\nCetus becomes more visible as the month goes on. Look for Hyades and\ntry to spot Mercury as a morning object in the second half of June.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"A<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The\nmoon passes in front of the sun on June 10th<\/sup>.\nThe annular eclipse is visible in a path that stretches from the\nKolyma Range in Russia, across the North Pole, to parts of Canada\nsouthwest of the southern part of Hudson Bay. Partial phases are\nvisible from most of Asia and Europe, Greenland, Iceland, and\nnorthern parts of Canada and Alaska. Do not look directly at a solar\neclipse without eye protection made specifically for seeing a solar\neclipse.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\nsolstice will be at 03:33 UT on the 21st<\/sup>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mercury\nis at aphelion on the 10th<\/sup>\nat 0.467 astronomical units from the sun. Venus is at perihelion on\nthe 12th<\/sup>\nat 0.718 AU.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\nmoon’s circumstances this month: last quarter on the 2nd<\/sup>,\nnew on the 10th<\/sup>,\nfirst quarter on the 18th<\/sup>,\nfull on the 24th<\/sup>.\nThe moon is on the equator going north of the 4th<\/sup>.\nNorthern lunistice is on the 12th<\/sup>\nat 25.6\u00b0. The moon goes south again on the 19th<\/sup>.\nSouthern lunistice is on the 25th<\/sup>\nat 25.6\u00b0. Apogee is on the 8th<\/sup>\nat 406,200 km. Perigee is on the 23rd<\/sup>\nat 359,900 km.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You\nmay find Vesta near the moon on the 17th<\/sup>.\nIt’s around 7th<\/sup>\nmagnitude and is easily visible in a dark sky with a small telescope.\nA lot of people will find it near the limit of what they can see with\na near first quarter moon so close though. Look in the area a few\nnights before and for more than one night. You’ll be able to see a\nfaint dot that is in a slightly different place each night.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some notable\nconjunctions this month:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

1st<\/sup>\n\u2013 Jupiter and the moon 4.3\u00b0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

3rd<\/sup>\n\u2013 Neptune and the moon 4.1\u00b0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

7th<\/sup>\n\u2013 Uranus and the moon 2.1\u00b0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

10th<\/sup>\n\u2013 Mercury at inferior conjunction at 3.1\u00b0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

12th<\/sup>\n\u2013 Venus and the moon 1.5\u00b0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

13th<\/sup>\n\u2013 Moon and Pollux 3.1\u00b0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

13th<\/sup>\n\u2013 Mars and the moon 2.8\u00b0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

16th<\/sup>\n\u2013 Moon and Regulus 4.7\u00b0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

17th<\/sup>\n\u2013 Vesta (asteroid 4) and the moon 2.2\u00b0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

23rd<\/sup>\n\u2013 Moon and Antares 4.6\u00b0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

24th<\/sup>\n\u2013 Flora (asteroid 8) and Venus 0.4\u00b0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

27th<\/sup>\n\u2013 Saturn and the moon 3.9\u00b0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

28th<\/sup>\n\u2013 Jupiter and the moon 4.2\u00b0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

30th<\/sup>\n\u2013 Neptune and the moon 4.0\u00b0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What’s\ncalled a daytime meteor shower peaks this month. You may see a few\nArietids before sunrise. But the radiant is up nearly all day, so\nthere’s little to nothing to see at night. Some radar operators may\n\u201csee\u201d the daytime meteors. And some radio enthusiasts enjoy using\nmeteor trails, day or night, to get distant signals. Meteor trails\nare ionized paths. For a minute or two, distant radio signals may\nreflect off them just like they reflect off the ionosphere. The\nshower peaks on the 7th<\/sup>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As June begins, Mercury is retreating into the sunset. If you can find it, it’ll probably be only on the first few evenings of the month. Venus is above it, approaching the feet of Gemini. The constellation itself isn’t particularly easy to see. The bright stars Castor and Pollux stand out, but the rest don’t […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[60],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-649","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-60"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.skycaramba.com\/monthly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/649","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.skycaramba.com\/monthly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.skycaramba.com\/monthly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.skycaramba.com\/monthly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.skycaramba.com\/monthly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=649"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.skycaramba.com\/monthly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/649\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":657,"href":"https:\/\/www.skycaramba.com\/monthly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/649\/revisions\/657"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.skycaramba.com\/monthly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=649"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.skycaramba.com\/monthly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=649"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.skycaramba.com\/monthly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=649"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}