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New Moon:
June 6
Full Moon:
June 22
STAR GAZE (June 3):
Sun: Sets at 8:43pm, astronomical twilight ends at 10:32pm
and begins at 4:25am the next morning. The Sun rises the next morning at 6:11am.
Between astronomical twilights, we get only 5.9 hours of darkness.
Moon: (illuminated
3%) The Moon rises at 4:30am on the 4th (Saturday morning).
Mercury: Too close to the Sun to view. See "Highlights" below.
Venus: 14 degrees above the western horizon at sunset. See "Highlights" below.
Mars:
Rises at 23:35pm at magnitude 0.3, but it's diameter is only 8.0 arc seconds.
Jupiter & it's moons:
Jupiter is already 52 degrees above the horizon at sunset, and culminates (is
highest in the sky) at 9:19pm. It's appears very large, at 40 arc seconds. The
Great Red Spot transits Jupiter's meridian at 00:31am. Io reappears from eclipse
by Jupiter's shadow at 11:01pm. It reappears to the east of Jupiter, a little
less than 1-Jupiter-diameter away from Jupiter's disk. Europa and Ganymede are
to the west of Jupiter, and Callisto is to the east.
Saturn: Saturn is only 33 degrees above the western horizon at sunset, so look early in the night. It appears about midway in size between Mars & Jupiter, at 17 arc seconds, but if you include Saturn's rings, it is about the same apparent size as Jupiter. The "star" located about 3 ring diameters to the east is really the moon Titan. The rings appear very tilted to our view at this time, so Cassini's Division and other ring features are visible. Saturn sets at 11:39pm.
Asteroids: Ceres culminates at 11:34pm. You can see it in binoculars as a star-like object at magnitude 7.5, about 4 degrees SE of Mu Virginis. (Location at midnight:14hr 50.8m R.A. -8 deg 49.9m Dec. See the chart on page 56 of the May Sky & Telescope.
Comets: Temple-1 is about 8 degrees northeast of Jupiter at about mag 9.9. See "Highlights" below.
Satellites:
Mag -3 Irridium Flare at 11:25:59pm Friday
night: In the NE at 20 degrees altitude.
Mag -1 Irridium Flare at 03:46:31am
Saturday morning: In the SE at 30 degrees altitude.
Mag -3 Irridium Flare at
05:15:12am Saturday morning: In the E at 17 degrees altitude.
(These predictions
are for Mt. Pisgah. Flares will be slightly different from Asheville. See the
Heavens-Above web site.)
DEEP SKY OBJECTS (DSO's)
(Not the biggest or brightest, but interesting):
1a. M10
& M12: Two easy-to-find globular clusters, about magnitude 6.7. M10
forms a "T" with stars Delta, Zeta, & Eta Ophiuchi. M12 is directly
between Zeta & Kapa Ophiuchi, and about 40% of the distance from Zeta to Kapa.
Also, once you find M10, M12 is visible in the same binocular FOV about 3 degrees
to the northwest. (Hey, we don't need no stinkin' "GoTo" telescope!)
Both M10 & M12 are about the same distance from us: 15,000 ly & 19,500
ly respectively. These two globular clusters are about 10 times farther from us
than the open clusters M6 & M7 that we will observe next month in the July
"Monthly Sky".
1b. NGC6356: This magnitude 8.2 globular
cluster is 48,000 ly away, far beyond the center of the galaxy, which is 28,000
ly away in the same general direction. You are looking above the obscuring dust
of the galaxy center to see far beyond it. NGC6356 is so far away that you'll
need a large (16"?) telescope to resolve any of its stars. (Location: 17h
23.6m R.A. -17 deg 49' Dec)
There are many globular clusters in Ophiuchus. Look at "The Big Picture" web page, map #3, and you'll see why.
2. 3C273: The most distant object visible thru many amateur scopes: a quasar "near" to earth, and appears brighter than all others. It is about 2.5 billion light years away and has the brightness of 6,000,000,000,000 suns. Appears stellar thru an amateur scope. As you sit at the scope contemplate that the photons striking your retina and stimulating the electric charge to your brain have been traveling thru space for billions of years. Only the "lucky" photons have not struck a particle of dust or been absorbed by a molecule of hydrogen. Burnham's Celestial Atlas has a finder chart on page 2101. Magnitude 12.8. Catch it early in the night while it's still high. (Location: 12hr 29m 06.8s RA +02deg 03' 07" Dec, in Virgo)
3. Zeta Ursae Majoris (Double stars): The two stars in the crook of the Big Dipper's handle are Mizar & Alcor. They can be separated without using optical aid. These two stars share a common path thru space, but may not be in orbit around each other. Put a telescope to the brighter of the two, Mizar, and it is revealed to be a true double star: 14" separation; Magnitudes 2.3 & 4.0. The "secondary" star takes about 1,000 years to complete it's orbit around the "primary". Their distance from Earth is 70 light years & true separation is 200 a.u. (5x that of our sun and Pluto). (Location: 13h 23.9m R.A. 54 deg 56' Dec)
4. Barnard's Star: This magnitude 9.5 red dwarf star has the largest "proper motion" of any other star, moving over 10 arc seconds per year in relation to the other stars. It's only 6 ly away, making it the second closest star. (Location: 17hr 58m RA +04deg 41' Dec, in Ophiuchus)
HIGHLIGHTS:
June
21: Summer solstice: the longest day of the year, and, to our consternation,
the shortest night.
A
Cluster of Planets:
1. Mercury, Venus, & Saturn are separated by
only 2 degrees in the evening sky around June 25. Mercury & Venus are separated
by about 3/4 degree. To view all three planets at once through a telescope, you
would need such a low power that the rings of Saturn may not be detectable.
2.
Mercury and Venus are separated by only 1/10 degree on the evening of June 27,
with Saturn is below and to the north . Venus is 91% illuminated, so will appear
practically circular instead of a pretty crescent shape. But Venus being 91% illuminated
helps us to realize that both Mercury & Venus (and Saturn too) are lined up
on the opposite side of the sun from us and heading toward us in their orbit.
(When we see the inner planets in the evening sky, their orbits are carrying them
toward us and they will next come between us and the Sun. When we see them in
the morning sky, their orbits are carrying them away from us and they will next
pass on the opposite side of the Sun.)
Deep Impact: NASA's Deep Impact probe is scheduled to smash into Comet Temple-1 at 2:00am on the morning of July 4. Expectant amateur astronomers all over the world over are waiting to see if they will be able to detect a brightening of the comet due to the ejected debris. Astronomers in Asheville will not be able to see the comet at the time of impact, but that may not matter because it will take a while for the ejecta cloud to become large enough to cause any brightening. The east coast of North America will get it's first chance to see any brightening the next evening, on July 5, but it would be best to observe the comet on the nights before the impact to get an idea of its normal brightness. The comet will be east of Spica & about 17 degrees southeast of Jupiter. For the comet's exact location, see page 68 of the June Sky & Telescope.
TERMS:
AFOV=apparent field of view / dec=declination
/ EP=eye piece / FOV=field of view / ISS=International Space Station / HST=Hubble
Space Telescope / ly=light year / mag=magnitude / ra=right ascension /
culminates=transits the meridian=when an object as at its highest point in the
sky / transit=passing in front of another object / ZHR=zenithal hourly rate (basically,
the most meteors 1 person could see in 1 hour under ideal conditions)
CLUB STARGAZE:
You can check the AstroAsheville
Yahoo group [or call Tim @ 251-0040 or John @ 251-1933 (before 5:00) or 667-9268
(after 5:00)] for a go/no-go decision and to verify location.
CLUB MEETING:
Indoor club meetings are usually the first Thursday of every
month, at 6 p.m. in the Sims
Group offices (230 Short Coxe Ave., Asheville, NC.)
Happy Starwatching! Dress Warm! Blue Ridge Parkway Information
Line is 828-298-0398
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(Much of the above info is derived from Sky & Telescope magazine, Ottewell's
Astronomical Calendar, The Night Sky Observer's Guide, Burnam's Celestial Handbook,
Megastar 5.0, Planets202, Cartes du Ciel, the ol' Miller Planesphere, and a little
(very little) common sense.)