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LOOK UP IN WONDER :A GUIDE TO THE NIGHT SKY -JUNE 2014
As the month proceeds, the Sun climbs through the stars of Taurus until around 19h on the 21st, when it crosses
the border into Gemini, the solstice having occurred on the June 21st at 10h51, eight hours earlier.
The earth-
sun distance is 152, 028,935 km. The solstice marks the astronomical start of summer in the northern hemisphere,
and the beginning of winter in the southern. Thus takes place the longest day and shortest night for us here in the
UK, and thereafter night length increases once again. The season of summer lasts 93.65 days. In the northern UK,
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New Moon occurs on the 27th, at 08h09, when the moon lies on the Orion/ Gemini border, and 5° south of
the sun.
The Planets
there is no true night, and at astronomical midnight, the sky is not black but a beautiful velvet deep blue, merging
Mercury continues its favourable apparition in the evening sky during the first week of June, after which it is
to turquoise on the northern horizon. Don’t forget to look out for noctilucent clouds in the hour before and after
lost rapidly in the sun’s encroaching light. Indeed, the elusive little planet reaches inferior conjunction and lies
midnight as they catch the light of the sun, which is not very far below the northern horizon at this time of year.
between the sun and us during the late evening of the 19th. Use binoculars to look for Mercury in the strong
The Moon
Moon is at apogee (furthest from the earth) on June 3rd at 04h, and again on the 30th at 19h11. Perigee
(nearest to the earth) is on the 15th, at 03h35.
First Quarter takes place on the 5th at 20h39, on the Leo/Sextans border.
June twilight of evening around 21h, when its altitude is 8° above the NW horizon, between 300° and 310° in azimuth.
(Azimuth is a coordinate system marking the position on the horizon where an object might be seen, measured from
North 0°, through East, 45°, South 180°, West 270°, and back to North)
Throughout June, Venus rises between one and two hours before the sun, and may be seen low in the eastern sky as
Full Moon is at 04h12 on the 13th, in the constellation of Ophiuchus, and is the second lowest Full Moon
morning twilight increases at around 03h. On the morning of the 24th, shortly after 02h you will see the thin waning
of this year.
crescent moon and Venus, rising together; the two are 5° apart, the moon lying to the right of the bright ‘Morning
Last Quarter Moon is on the 19th at 18h39 near the circlet in western Pisces.
Astro Nerds June 2014
Star’. At this time the pair lie beneath the Pleiades, that beautiful open cluster of stars, commonly known as the ‘Seven
Sisters’ in the constellation of Taurus the Bull. You can use the moon later on, after the sun rises, to see Venus in full
Astro Nerds June 2014