Martin Lunn, from Earby Astronomical Society, tells us what can be seen in the June skies:

JUNE can be a rather disappointing month for the star gazer who is not prepared to stay up until very late.

When we reach mid-month it will not be properly dark until 11pm and the darkest period will occur around 1am. This together with the sun rising early means that by 3am, it is getting light. When the moon is close to being full there is no proper darkness at all!

The Plough is still high up but is now somewhat to the west of the overhead point. The ‘W’ of Cassiopeia is becoming higher in the east. The summer triangle of bright stars; Altair, Deneb and Vega are becoming higher in the East, and I will talk about them next month.

Arcturus in Bootes (which can be found following the curve of the handle of the Plough) is now at its highest point in the south. Spica in Virgo can still be found following the curve from the handle of the Plough past Arcturus, but it is now past its best and is becoming lower in the south west. Regulus in Leo is dropping towards the west.

The southern part of the sky is now becoming dominated by three large faint groups, Hercules, Ophiuchus (the Serpent Bearer) and Serpens (the Serpent). However, there is brilliant newcomer, Antares, the brightest star in Scorpio (the Scorpion), which appears low in the sky in the south. Antares is often referred to as ‘The Rival of Mars’ due to its bright red colour.

The Plough is an easily found group of stars which helps to find the North Star, or to give its proper name, Polaris, which is the end star of the handle of the small plough. The plough and the small plough are sometimes referred to as the great bear and little bear. The stars, or constellations, are giant pictures in the sky and if you can find them, you can begin to understand some of the greatest stories from ancient times.

In Greek mythology it is said that the big bear, or the Plough, was once a princess called Callisto who was so beautiful that the queen of the gods Juno turned her into a bear because she was jealous. Somewhat later Callisto’s son Arcas was out hunting when he saw a bear and, not recognising his mother, was going to shoot her with his bow. Jupiter, king of the gods, seeing what was about to happen, turned Arcas into a bear as well, then he grabbed both bears by the tails and swung them into the sky. This is why both bears have longer tails than bears normally have.

What’s up in the Solar System?

The Planets in June

It should be a great summer for looking at bright planets, the only problem is that two of them will be very low down in the sky.

Jupiter has been in the night sky throughout the spring months. It is the bright white star like object which has dominated the evening sky. Now it is beginning to drop away to the west and is still very noticeable, but this will be the last month when it can be easily seen.

Now in the south but low in the sky is a bright red star like object which is Mars, the red planet. It is nearly as bright as Jupiter on the other side of the sky. If Mars was higher in the sky it would look even more imposing. To the left of Mars will be a slightly less bright red star. This is a real star and it is Antares. When these two are this close in the sky, you can compare their different shades of red.

In the southern part of the sky there is yet another planet to see. Appearing as a bright yellowish object, this is Saturn. Saturn can be found to the left of Mars and above Antares, but you will have to wait until around midnight to see these three objects in the sky.

The other two naked eye planets Mercury and Venus are both too close to the Sun and cannot be seen this month.

Meteor Showers

There are no major meteor showers this month.

The Moon in June

June 9: Crescent Moon lies to the right of Regulus in the evening.

June 10: Crescent Moon lies to the left of Regulus this evening.

June 14: the Moon lies above Spica this evening.

Phases of the Moon for June

New Moon 5th, First Quarter 12th, Full Moon 20th, Last Quarter 27th

This month’s full moon is called the ‘Strawberry Moon’. This is the month when these traditional fruits of summer can be found in abundance in fields around the country.

Noctilucent Clouds

Glowing silver-blue clouds called ‘noctilucent’ or ‘night shining’ clouds sometimes light up summer night skies between June and August. These noctilucent clouds form in the highest reaches of the atmosphere around 50 miles (80 km) above the Earth’s surface. They are thought to be made of ice crystals that form on fine dust particles from meteors. They can only form when temperatures are incredibly low and when there’s water available to form ice crystals. You actually get the coldest temperatures of the year, around minus 134 degrees centigrade, near the poles in summer at that height in the atmosphere.

The Longest Day

The summer solstice occurs on June 20 when the sun reaches its highest point in the sky during the year and we have the longest period of daylight.

The next meeting of the Earby Astronomical Society will be at All Saints’ Church, Earby, tomorrow from 7.30pm to 9pm. Society member Simon Emmott will present a talk entitled How to set up a Telescope.