Astronomical twilight will last all night and the northern skies will never be dark enough for deep sky photography. Unless very bright, aurorae will be unlikely to be visible for a while now
Planets:
Mercury
Mercury is at its best this month. It reaches greatest eastern elongation on the 15th and will be 24o from the Sun. Its high declination means that it will be well placed in the evening sky after sunset. At elongation the phase will be 50% (of course) and diameter 7.3 arcsec. A great time to observe this elusive planet.
Venus
Venus is now a prominent evening object and increasing its elongation from the Sun throughout the month, reaching 41o by the end of the month. The disc diameter is only about 16 arcsec and the phase decreases to 70% by the end of the month.
Mars
Mars reached conjunction in January and is still not really observable this month, or for a few months yet.
Jupiter
Jupiter is well past its best now now, but is still fairly well placed for observation after sunset, high in the western sky. It is still a very prominent object in Gemini, just below the twin stars of Castor and Pollux. It is very well placed for observing and gets very high in the sky, meaning it avoids a lot of the atmospheric turbulence lower down. I recommend the website https://shallowsky.com/jupiter which shows you the position of the Galilean moons and the Great Red Spot at any time you pick.
Saturn
Saturn reached conjunction with the Sun last March and is still not observable this month.
Uranus
Uranus is not really observable this month as it is lost in the twilight.
Neptune
Neptune is not observable this month as it is still too close to the Sun
Moon Phases:
| 8th June: Last Quarter | 15th June: New Moon |
| 21st June: First Quarter | 29th June: Full Moon |
Meteor Showers
There are no major meteor showers this month
Sun
The summer solstice occurs on the 21st June and so the Sun is at its highest in the sky. We remain near solar maximum, so watch out for major sunspots and sunspot groups. Remember to never look at the Sun directly without a proper solar filter.
Aurora
The skies remain too bright this month and so aurorae will not be visible, unless extremely powerful and bright.
Deep Sky Objects
The light evenings make deep sky observing very difficult now, although the Milky Way will be more visible late in the night. Cygnus is becoming well placed as well.
The Whirlpool Galaxy (M51), below Ursa Major, as well as the Pinwheel galaxy (M101) just above the handle of the Plough are now very well placed high in the sky. The M13 globular cluster in Hercules is also now well placed and a good object for binoculars, small telescopes or astrophotography.
Neil Havard.
Any questions or for more information, contact Neil at coordassist@cotswoldas.org.uk
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