SkyEye: June 2006

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 2006

Date		Event
1	Thu
2	Fri
3	Sat	First Quarter Moon
4	Sun	Moon at apogee
5	Mon	Saturn near M44, the Beehive Cluster
5	Mon	Uranus at west quadrature
6	Tue
7	Wed	Moon occults Spica: visible from parts of the Pacific Ocean from approximately 0800 UT.
8	Thu
9	Fri
10	Sat	Moon occults Antares: visible from Brazil, the Atlantic Ocean and South Africa from approximately 2200 UT.
11	Sun	Full Moon
12	Mon
13	Tue
14	Wed
15	Thu
16	Fri	Mars near M44, the Beehive Cluster
		Pluto at opposition
		Moon at perigee
17	Sat	Moon occults Uranus: visible from New Zealand from approximately 1600 UT.
18	Sun	Last Quarter Moon
19	Mon
20	Tue	Mercury at greatest elongation east
21	Wed	Earth at solstice: days are at their longest in the northern hemisphere and at their shortest in the southern hemisphere.
22	Thu
23	Fri
24	Sat
25	Sun	New Moon
26	Mon
27	Tue
28	Wed
29	Thu
30	Fri

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.

Object	Location	Description
Sun	Taurus -> Gemini
Mercury	Taurus -> Gemini -> Cancer	The closest planet to the Sun is well placed for viewing this month. It appears well above the western horizon after sunset but look for it before greatest elongation east on 20 June. It begins to descend back towards the horizon around that date.
Venus	Aries -> Taurus	Still best viewed from the southern hemisphere, the "morning star" is beginning to sink slightly towards the eastern horizon before sunrise. However, Venus appears to gain altitude during the month when viewed from the northern hemisphere.
Mars	Cancer	Passing by M44, the Beehive Cluster on 16 June and having a close encounter with Saturn a few days later means a busy month for the planet Mars. Look for it in the west at nightfall because it sets soon afterwards.
Jupiter	Libra	The largest planet in the solar system is easily seen during the evening hours and sets shortly after midnight.
Saturn	Cancer	The ringed planet skims past M44, the Beehive Cluster on 5 June and then joins Mars a couple of weeks later. It sets mid-evening so look for it in the west starting at evening twilight.
Uranus	Aquarius	Now rising before midnight, it will take sharp eyes to spot this sixth-magnitude object. It reaches west quadrature on 5 June and is occulted by the Moon on 17 June.
Neptune	Capricornus	This faint gas giant rises as its fellow superior planets Mars and Saturn set mid-evening.
Pluto	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. Since it is at opposition on 16 June, it 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.