SkyEye: June 2005

Welcome to SkyEye, your guide to this month's celestial events. All times and dates are given in Universal Time (UT). Nightly darkness estimates are calculated for Greenwich, London (51.5° N, 0° W).

Calendar of Events - June 2005

Date		Event
1	Wed	Uranus at west quadrature
2	Thu
3	Fri	Mercury at superior conjunction
4	Sat
5	Sun
6	Mon	New Moon
7	Tue
8	Wed
9	Thu
10	Fri
11	Sat	Moon at apogee
12	Sun
13	Mon
14	Tue	Pluto at opposition
15	Wed	First Quarter Moon
16	Thu	Moon occults Jupiter: visible in New Zealand from about 0600 UT
17	Fri
18	Sat
19	Sun
20	Mon	Moon occults first-magnitude star Antares: visible from the Middle East, India, and southeast Asia from about 1700 UT
21	Tue	Earth at solstice: longest day in the northern hemisphere and shortest day in the southern hemisphere
22	Wed	Full Moon
23	Thu	Moon at perigee
24	Fri
25	Sat
26	Sun	Mercury, Venus and Saturn appear very close together in the constellation Gemini
27	Mon
28	Tue	Last Quarter Moon
29	Wed
30	Thu

The Solar System

The word planet is derived from the Greek word for "wanderer." Unlike the background stars, planets seem to move around the sky, keeping mostly to a narrow track called the ecliptic, the path of the Sun across the stars.

Sun: Location: Taurus -> Gemini
Mercury: Location: Taurus -> Gemini -> Cancer
This tiny planet is never far from the Sun. After undergoing superior conjunction on 3 June, Mercury reappears mid-month in the west at sunset. It soars relatively high above the horizon for observers in the southern hemisphere but those in the north get a much poorer view. Look for this elusive planet huddled together with Venus and Saturn near the end of the month.
Venus: Location: Taurus -> Gemini -> Cancer
The "evening star" is still soaring upward for viewers in the southern hemisphere but its distance above the horizon for those in the north levels off this month. It makes a pretty showing at the end of June with Mercury and Saturn.
Mars: Location: Pisces -> Cetus -> Pisces
Still a morning sky object, the red planet rises just after midnight.
Jupiter: Location: Virgo
In contrast, the largest planet in the solar system appears only in the evening, setting as Mars rises. On 16 June Jupiter is occulted by the Moon in an event visible from New Zealand.
Saturn: Location: Gemini
The ringed planet sets by mid-evening. During the last week in June, look for it in the west along with inferior planets Mercury and Venus.
Uranus: Location: Aquarius
A morning sky object like Mars, this gas giant rises around midnight.
Neptune: Location: Capricornus
Neptune precedes Uranus in the sky, rising about an hour earlier.
Pluto: Location: Serpens (Cauda)
With a brightness of around fourteenth magnitude, the smallest planet in the solar system can be seen only through a good-sized telescope. At opposition on 14 June, Pluto is up all night.

The Celestial Sphere

Constellations are patterns of stars in the sky. The International Astronomical Union (IAU) recognises 88 different constellations. The brightest stars as seen from the Earth are easy to spot but do you know their proper names? With a set of binoculars you can look for fainter objects such as nebulae and galaxies or some of the closest stars to the Sun.

Descriptions of the sky for observers in both the northern and southern hemispheres are available for the following times this month. Subtract one hour from your local time if summer (daylight savings) time is in effect.

Local Time	Northern Hemisphere	Southern Hemisphere
1730 hours (1830 hours summer time)	45° N	30° S
1930 hours (2030 hours summer time)	45° N	30° S
2130 hours (2230 hours summer time)	45° N	30° S
2330 hours (0030 hours summer time)	45° N	30° S
0130 hours (0230 hours summer time)	45° N	30° S
0330 hours (0430 hours summer time)	45° N	30° S
0530 hours (0630 hours summer time)	45° N	30° S

For More Information...

Consult our online glossary for non-technical explanations of many of the astronomical terms used in these pages.
Blue moons, eclipses, the dates of Easter and much more can be found at the Interactive Astronomy Pages.
For more information about the objects and events described in SkyEye, visit these astronomy-related sites.

Credits

Much of this information can be found in this month's issue of your favourite amateur astronomy magazine available in your local bookshop. Another excellent source is the current edition of the Astronomical Calendar by Guy Ottewell and published by the Universal Workshop at Furman University.

The image of the Sun in the SkyEye banner is courtesy of the SOHO/EIT consortium. The composite image from May 1998 combines EIT images from three wavelengths (171Å, 195Å and 284Å) into one that reveals solar features unique to each wavelength. SOHO is a project of international cooperation between ESA and NASA.