SkyEye

Welcome to SkyEye, your guide to this month's celestial events.

June 2008

All times and dates are given in Universal Time (UT).
Nightly darkness estimates are calculated for 45° N and 30° S.
Like total solar eclipses, lunar occultation events can be seen only from limited regions on Earth (and sometimes not at all if the occultation takes place during daylight hours). However, the Moon will appear close in the sky to its "target" for some hours either side of the actual occultation, regardless of where you are.

Date		Event
1	Sun
2	Mon
3	Tue	Moon at perigee
3	Tue	New Moon: Because New Moon occurs so close to perigee, expect high tides.
4	Wed
5	Thu
6	Fri
7	Sat	Mercury at inferior conjunction
8	Sun	Moon occults Mars: visible from New Zealand from about 0:00 UT.
9	Mon	Venus at superior conjunction
10	Tue	First Quarter Moon
11	Wed
12	Thu	3 Juno at opposition
13	Fri	Uranus at west quadrature
14	Sat
15	Sun
16	Mon	Moon at apogee
17	Tue	Moon occults first-magnitude star Antares: visible from the Pacific (including Easter Island) and the southern half of South America from about 3:00 UT.
18	Wed	Full Moon
19	Thu
20	Fri	Solstice
21	Sat
22	Sun
23	Mon	Moon occults Neptune: visible from most of North America (except Alaska and northern Canada) from about 7:00 UT.
24	Tue
25	Wed
26	Thu	Last Quarter Moon
27	Fri
28	Sat
29	Sun
30	Mon

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. Dwarf planets and small solar-system bodies including comets, are not so constrained, often moving far above or below the ecliptic.

Sun: Taurus -> Gemini
A solstice occurs on Earth on 20 June. The word solstice means "sun stands still" so that on this day, the solar declination reaches an extreme. In this case, the Sun appears directly over the Tropic of Cancer in the northern hemisphere. From now until the solstice in December, days will be getting shorter in the northern hemisphere and longer in the southern hemisphere.
Mercury: Taurus
An evening object last month, Mercury attains inferior conjunction on 7 June and thus, isn't visible until mid-month. Moving into the morning sky, it gets reasonably high above the eastern horizon by the end of the month.
Venus: Taurus -> Gemini
Venus reachs superior conjunction two days after Mercury goes through inferior conjunction; thus, the two planets are practically on opposite sides of the Sun. This brightest of planets is lost in the solar glare but will reappear in the evening sky next month.
Mars: Cancer -> Leo
Shining with a ruddy glow, Mars passes very near the first-magnitude star Regulus at the end of the month. The red planet sets before midnight.
3 Juno: Ophiuchus
Because this small solar system body reaches only tenth magnitude, a small telescope will be necessary to see it at opposition on 12 June.
Jupiter: Sagittarius
At opposition next month, the largest planet in the solar system can be viewed nearly all night.
Saturn: Leo
The ringed planet appears not far from Mars and first-magnitude star Regulus in the west. Look for differences in colour between these three bright objects.
Uranus: Aquarius
This gas giant, always just on the verge of naked eye visibility, reaches west quadrature on 13 June, rising about midnight.
Neptune: Capricornus
A small telescope is necessary to view the most distant planet in the solar system. Currently found in the sky opposite to Saturn, Neptune rises in the east just as the ringed planet sets in the west.

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 variable star V838 Monocerotis in the SkyEye banner is courtesy of NASA, ESA and the Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA). Located 20,000 light years away in the constellation of Monoceros, V838 Mon temporarily brightened in early 2002. The reason for this outburst is not understood. The resulting light echo, the light from the stellar explosion illuminating the dust surrounding the the star, was captured by the Hubble Space Telescope in October of that year.