Podcast for June 2022

I’m Kelly Beatty of Sky & Telescope magazine, and tonight we’re going on a tour of the stars and planets that you’ll see overhead during June. First we’ll time this month’s solstice, trace the Moon’s cycle of phases, spot five planets all at once, and take a tour of the stars of early summer. So grab your curiosity, and come along on this month’s Sky Tour.

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For summer-lovers in the Northern Hemisphere, June is a great month. The solstice, when daylight is longest, comes on the 21st at 5:14 a.m. Eastern Daylight Time. At June’s solstice, the midday Sun passes directly overhead from anywhere along the Tropic of Cancer, which runs around Earth at a latitude of 23½° north. (Yep, that’s why this line is marked on a globe, along with the Tropic of Capricorn 23½° south of the equator.)
But if you love to savor the night sky, this is a minimalist month because the nights are so short. And the farther you are from the equator, the shorter they get. Here in Boston, dawn comes around 5 a.m., whereas down in Miami it’s around 6:30. For most of us evening twilight doesn’t end until 9 p.m. or later, which makes it tougher to observe — especially if you want to bring your kids along. 
So let’s figure out where the Moon will be this month. We’ve had something of a running theme this year, with the lunar phases in close sync with the calendar. There was a new Moon on May 30th, so we’ll have the Moon in our evening skies for the first half of the month. During the first days of June look for a slender lunar crescent moving a little higher in the evening sky night by night. First quarter falls on the 7th, followed by the full Strawberry Moon on June 14th. This particular full Moon occurs when it’s near perigee, the point in its orbit closest to Earth. You’re bound to hear about this so-called “super Moon,” but honestly it's only 7% closer to us than average. If you can tell the difference, good for you. I sure can’t. 
After that the Moon rises later and later in the evening. The last-quarter Moon, on the night of June 20th, pops up in the east well after midnight. And new Moon follows on the 28th.
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This will be a month with no comets, no strong meteor showers, and no eclipses of the Sun or Moon. And yet something rare and otherworldly will occur. If you’re a regular Sky Tour listener, you know that the planets have been putting on quite a show in the predawn sky. Well, this month their performance reaches something of a climax.
Beginning around June 4th, fast-moving Mercury begins a climb in the eastern sky, joining four other planets already in the sky. What’s remarkable is that all these worlds will be in the same order as they orbit the Sun — Mercury is lowest, then sweeping toward its upper right are Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn. On the 4th, this quintet will be packed closest, packed within an arc of sky only 91° long. Such a configuration doesn’t happen very often. It’s been nearly a century since a similarly compact parade of planets has graced our skies, and it won’t happen again until 2041.
But here’s the thing: Mercury will be very low down and seriously challenging to spot even if you have an unobstructed view toward east. About 30 minutes before sunrise, look for it to the lower-left of Venus by about twice the width of your clenched fist held at arm’s length.
As the days go by, Mercury will climb higher in the sky and get brighter. My suggestion is to try again later in the month, around June 24th. Now, by then the string of five planets will be slightly longer — but Mercury will be much easier to locate. As an added bonus, on that morning a thin crescent Moon will be situated between Venus and Mars, which will add to the scene’s beauty. And you can think of the Moon as a proxy for Earth in the ordering of the planets.
Now there’s an encore to this planet parade, and that happens on the morning of the 26th. Be outside and ready about 30 minutes before sunrise, and then look low in the east. There you’ll find a razor-thin crescent Moon just a couple of degrees to the left of brilliant Venus. For those of us in the Americas, this will be the closest pairing of these two worlds all year.  
Wow, that’s a lot of activity before dawn. Wait, what? You’re not a morning person? OK, then let’s check out the stars that you’ll find in the evening sky after sunset.
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During the first half of June, head outside as the twilight is starting to deepen and look over in the direction of where the Sun set. If you have a clear view toward west, you’ll see a couple of bright stars low over the horizon, about seven fists apart. The brighter one, on the right and low in the northwest, is a distinctive star called Capella, and the one on the left, a little higher up, is Regulus, the alpha star in the constellation Leo. Midway between them, are Gemini’s twins, the stars Pollux and Castor, side by side. 
All of these stars are sinking from view night by night. They’re edging closer to the Sun, by about 1° per day. And why is that? Because Earth is racing around in its orbit, and the Sun’s apparent position with respect to background stars is shifting. By month’s end, the only one you can hope to see is Regulus.
After it gets good and dark, look well to your left so that you’re facing southwest, more or less. The bright star you see is usually called SPY-kuh (though I prefer SPEE-kuh). It’s the brightest star in Virgo, the Maiden, who’s lounging on her side across this stretch of sky. In any case, take a moment to check out Spica’s color. It’s a blue-white star shining 20,000 times brighter than our Sun at a superhot 40,000° Fahrenheit. Maybe it’s a good thing that Spica is 250 light-years away from us.
Now look higher up, by about three fists, almost overhead at nightfall, and you’ll see a really dazzling star called Arcturus. It ranks as the fourth brightest star in the nighttime sky. #1 is Sirius, which has settled out of sight in the west until later this year. And #2 and #3 on the list are Canopus and Alpha Centauri, which can’t be seen from the mid-northern latitudes where most of us live. So Arcturus is the brightest star you’ll see all summer. It’s a relatively old red-giant star about 37 light-years away from us. The gleam that’s reaching your eye right now left Arcturus in 1985, when Ronald Reagan was President and the most popular movie was Back to the Future.
Let’s go back to Spica for a moment, and look about two fists to its left. Can you see a medium-bright star? And there’s another one to its upper left about one fist away. These are in the dim constellation of LEE-bruh, and they’re named Zubenelgenubi and Zubeneschamali. There’s nothing particularly noteworthy about these stars, but I just love saying their names. In Arabic, Zubenelgenubi means “the southern claw” and Zubeneschamali “the Northern claw.” Long ago they were considered part of the constellations Scorpius, which is rising to their left in the east. 
You’ll have to wait close to midnight to see all of Scorpius. A bright orangish star marks its heart. That’s called Antares. To its right are a roughly vertical row of three stars that mark the critter’s head. To the lower left of Antares, running down in a line that arcs upward on the left end, are stars that trace out the tail and stinger.
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Now as long as we’re in this general area, let me help you track down a big constellation that you’ve probably never heard of. It’s called Ophiuchus, the Serpent Bearer. As with Libra, this is a huge chunk of celestial real estate without any really bright stars. So are you up for a starfinding challenge? Keep your eye on Antares and wait until about 11 p.m., or a little earlier at the end of June, then look 1½ fists to its upper left to reach the star SAH-beek. Now go three fists above that, and a little left, to spot Ras-al-HAYg, which is Arabic for “head of the Serpent charmer.” Ophiuchus is a big boxy constellation about three fists tall in the shape of a fat nose cone for a rocket. Ras-al-HAYg is at the pointy top and SAH-beek marks the lower left corner. One oddity about Ophiuchus is that he’s holding a snake, the constellation Serpens, that’s actually in two pieces — with one half to his right and the other to his left. It’s the only constellation, out of all 88, that has this split personality.
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That’s about it for this month. If you want more tips for viewing the night sky, including a free, interactive star chart for any time or date, check out our website, SkyandTelescope.org.
If you haven’t already subscribed, you can find Sky Tour on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, or wherever you listen. And if you’ve enjoyed listening, could you please leave a rating or a review? It will help spread the word about Sky Tour, and I really welcome your feedback.
And if you want to explore the solar system and universe more deeply, check out the full line of binoculars and telescopes available at Celestron.com.
Sky Tour is a production of Sky & Telescope, a division of the American Astronomical Society, and is produced by me, Kelly Beatty.
Next month we’ll welcome Saturn to the evening sky — and I’ll tell you what the Brazilian flag has to do with astronomy. Until then, I wish you clear skies.