What's Up: June 10-17, 2023 - Jared May

What’s Up This Second Week of June

This week’s forecast seems to oscillate between rainy nights and clear nights. The best outlook for clear nights is this Saturday, Monday, and Thursday. The temperature will be in the low-60s and mid-50s in the hours following sunset so be sure to bring a jacket to keep warm and keep an eye out for dew forming on your binoculars or telescope lenses.

Be on the lookout this week for the third quarter moon, Venus passing through the Beehive Cluster, a moon-Jupiter conjunction, and the moon passing near the Pleiades. 

Most avid stargazers and astrophotographers are acutely aware of where the moon is in the sky, and what phase it is in. And most of those folks are starting to get excited because the moon hits its third quarter phase this Saturday. That means the moon is waning, or getting “smaller”, and rising later every night. This clears the night sky of the moon’s glow that would otherwise wash out the faint dust lanes of the Milky Way or deep-sky nebulae and star clusters. 

For those who stay up very late, or get up very early, the 3rd Quarter moon will be visible this week.

Tuesday, June 13th, about 45 minutes after sunset, locate Venus in the west (it will be the brightest object in the sky) and peer at our planetary neighbor with a pair of binoculars or a widefield telescope. Within the field of view, you will see Venus, which shines at an apparent magnitude of -4.1 (very bright!), and a large field of densely packed stars. This is known as Messier Object 44 (M44), or the Beehive Cluster. If you read last week’s blog, you’ll recall that Mars just passed through this same region of the sky. 

A binocular view of Venus crossing in front of the Beehive cluster. (Tuesday, June 13)

If you are up before sunrise on Wednesday, June 14th, peer into the eastern sky to spot Jupiter hanging out right next to the thin crescent moon. They will be separated by a mere two degrees in the sky. This alone is impressive to see with the naked eye, but a pair of binoculars will reveal four of the brightest Jovian moons as well as some details of the craters and ancient volcanic seas on the lunar surface. A telescope with a longer focal length will reveal Jupiter’s stripy atmosphere and shadows cast by the craters and mountains on the moon.

The thin crescent moon passes by Jupiter in the morning sky on June 14

If you are an early-riser and witness the moon-Jupiter conjunction, you will also be rewarded on Friday, June 16th, with the nearly new moon just below a ghost of the winter night sky, the Pleiades star cluster. Once again, binoculars will make for a great observing option for this celestial matchup. You will see a razor-thin crescent moon and a cluster of several bright blue stars a few degrees above. The Pleiades consists of several bright blue stars, indicating that the stars in this cluster are cosmically very young and burning very hot – much hotter than our sun. 

In the pre-dawn sky on July 16, he Moon will be near the Pleiades.

During the gaps between the cloudy and rainy days, get outside to enjoy the cool and clear nights. Let your stargazing equipment thermally equilibrate with the outdoor temperature to prevent dew buildup, which may obscure your view if it forms on your binocular/telescope lens. Be on the lookout this week for the third quarter moon, Venus passing through the cosmic Beehive, Jupiter and the moon hanging out in the sky, and a thin crescent passing near the Pleiades. While you are out stargazing and staring at the night sky, odds are that you will see several passing satellites and maybe even a shooting star or two.

Clear Skies!