THIS month summer officially begins.

On June 20, the Sun reaches its most northerly point in the sky at 10.43 pm, marking the instant in time known as the Northern Hemisphere’s Summer Solstice.

The nights will be at their shortest for the next few weeks, making it difficult to see the stars until very late in the evening.

In the Southern Hemisphere of course, winter officially begins.

Although we will have to wait late into the evenings before the sky gets dark, June heralds the beginning of the noctilucent, or ‘night shining’ cloud observing season. 2019 was a fantastic year for noctilucent clouds and it can only be hoped that this year will be just as good.

The noctilucent clouds are beautiful, often eye catching, silver blue formations of ice crystals at very high level, reflecting the rays from the Sun just after it has set or before it rises.

Unlike normal day time clouds, noctilucent clouds form very high in the atmosphere at a height of about 50 miles, or 82 kilometres.

The nature of noctilucent clouds is not fully understood but it is believed that they are formed by very small grains of meteorite dust that are covered in ice.

Strangely, there appear to be no records of noctilucent clouds being seen before 1885, which was two years following the massive explosion of the Krakatoa volcano in what was the Dutch East Indies, now Indonesia, in 1883.

This event would certainly have put lots of volcanic ash into the upper atmosphere. It is of course quite possible that noctilucent clouds had been around before 1885 but it was the Krakatoa explosion that drew people’s attention to these strange clouds.

Noctilucent clouds appear in a variety of forms, often seen as a bright herringbone pattern while at other times they are wispy in appearance.

As the month goes by, the chances of seeing the noctilucent clouds increase. They can, however, only be seen for a short period of time.

Over the next few weeks during twilight, an hour or so after the Sun sets or at dawn before the Sun rises, look to the north to see if there are any of those silver blue clouds. If they are there, you have seen a noctilucent cloud display.

Seeing the stars from town centres can be difficult due to light pollution making the sky too bright.

Observing noctilucent clouds, however, is not affected by this, which means that they can be seen either from the countryside or from town centres.

The Plough has now shifted to a point somewhat westward of overhead but is still very high up.

The ‘W’ of Cassiopeia has correspondingly gained a little height in the east.

The three stars that form the Summer Triangle, Altair in Aquila the Eagle, Deneb in Cygnus the Swan and Vega in Lyra the Lyre, are now all over the horizon and will dominate the sky during the summer months.

Arcturus, the bright orange star in Bootes the Herdsman, is now at its highest, while the other two mains stars of spring, Spica in Virgo the Virgin and Regulus in Leo the Lion, are now dropping westwards.

The large faint constellations of Hercules, Ophiuchus the Serpent Bearer and Serpens the Serpent occupy much of the south eastern sky now and will be around in the southern sky during the summer months.

Alphard, the Solitary One in Hydra the Water Snake has now set. However, there is a bright newcomer; a red star called Antares in Scorpius the Scorpion, appearing low in the south east.

It is a pity that the Scorpion never rises high in the sky in Britain as it is a grand constellation. I will take a closer look at Antares next month.

The Planets in June:

It has been a cracking year for the planets in the evening sky this year with the dazzlingly bright Venus stealing the show, but sadly this month it is too close to the Sun to be seen with the naked eye.

With the nights being so short and the current positions of the planets you will have to look for them in the early hours of the morning.

The two giants, Jupiter and Saturn are attracting attention in the morning sky, both getting above the horizon at around midnight.

Jupiter, the largest of the planets in the solar system, can be seen low in the sky in the south east before sunrise.

If you look out at around 2am, Jupiter will appear as a bright white dot in the sky. Close by and to the left of Jupiter will be a slightly less bright looking star, and this is the planet Saturn which appears as a dirty yellow looking dot.

On the morning of June 9, the Moon will be just below Jupiter and Saturn. As the Moon is so low in the sky it will appear larger than normal and I am sure there will be some people taking photographs of this celestial event.

Much further to the left of Saturn is the reddish looking star Mars. Mercury, the innermost planet of the solar system, is, like Venus, too close to the Sun to be seen this month.

Meteor Showers

There are no major meteor showers predicted for this month.

Phases of the Moon for June:

Full Moon 5; Last Quarter 13; New Moon 21; First Quarter 28.

The Full Moon in June is called the Strawberry Moon, because this is the time of the year when the strawberry, considered the most celebrated and important of the berries, was traditionally harvested.

Nowadays the strawberry season lasts much longer.

Due to the Current coronavirus, there will be no meetings of the Earby Astronomical Society until further notice.