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Astronomy, Southern Sky News.
Published:
2009 June 05
Southern Sky News for 2009 June
This past New Moon (May 24), Edward Foster and myself went observing in Sutherland, at Jurg and Rita Wagener's Sterland establishment. The night sky was spectacular, with wall-to-wall stars and a brilliant Milky Way. At times, the temperature dropped to –4°C.
There were a few cloudy nights this time around, and on those occassions, visitors to Jurg's telescopes had to make do with an extended lecture. Jurg holds special "Stars to Midnight" evenings, and Ed and I usually present the guided sky tours. The next "Stars to Midnight" evenings are on Friday, June 19 and Saturday, June 20.
On one such evening this May it was partially cloudy, and I could point out to the visitors (including a large group of Voortrekkers from George) that the clouds in Sutherland are black.
Under city skies, clouds at night are white, or a sickly orange, depending on the colour of the lights that shine on them. Crazy thought that! Clouds don't give off their own light, but passively reflect whatever light falls on them. It is weird to think that people waste money to illuminate the bottoms of clouds!
In Sutherland, and elsewhere where light pollution is minimal, the clouds at night are dark.
There are, however, two clouds in the southern skies that are genuinely white, even from Sutherland. These are the two Cape Clouds, or Magellanic Clouds. Where regular clouds are just a few kilometres overhead, the Magellanic Clouds are millions of kilometres away, and are in reality entire galaxies, massive systems of millions of stars and gas clouds.
In the Large Magellanic Cloud we showed visitors the delicate Tarantula Nebula. The complex shape of this star forming region conjures up an image of a huge spider with its legs extended.
The second-last evening of our visit we invited Jurg's staff and friends for a star gazing session. After an introductory talk, a brief sky tour was conducted, and then it was off to the telescopes for some observing.
One of the southern jewels we showed off was Omega Centauri, the bright globular cluster near the Southern Cross. Here, a million suns are compacted together and look like a pile of sugar, with each crystal an entire sun.
As we gathered around the telescopes, Orion was already setting in the west. During the first week of June, shortly after sunset, Orion can be seen bidding farewell, off to warmer regions no doubt. The three brilliant stars of the Belt (the Three Kings, or as some say, the Three Sisters) stand in a remarkable vertical line, marking the western point on the horizon compass.
Above Orion gleams Sirius, setting just under two hours after the Belt has gone under. Sirius can be seen in the evening sky throughout June, lower in the west each night.
With Orion moving off-stage, the scorpion is rising in the east, and can be seen early in the evening this month, its question-mark shaped curve of stars lying horizontally along the horizon. Face the scorpion and look left (to the north-east) for the bright star Arcturus, the Guardian of the North. Above it lies Spica (in Virgo). To their left lies Saturn – notice that the three form a prominent large triangle.
Early evening in the south Crux, the Southern Cross, is almost at its highest. In the southwest shines the second brightest star in the night sky, Canopus, fellow traveller on the Argonaut along with Jason and his Greek heroes of legend. Canopus is one of the most recent names assigned by the ancient Greeks, dating back to only the second century BCE.
If you look to the right of Canopus you'll see Sirius again, and you've come full-circle.
On the evening of June 3, the waxing Moon is to the right of Spica high in the east, heading for Scorpius. On June 6 the Moon is in the scorpion's claws, and on June 7 (Full Moon) it lies just below Antares, the red heart of the scorpion.
A young crescent Moon appears on June 24 in the northwest at dusk. On the 26th, it lies next to Regulus in Leo. This star's name means "The Little King", and is one of the oldest recorded star names, dating back to Babylonian times.
The next evening, the Moon is next to Saturn. On the 30th, one day after quarter-moon, look for Spica just below the Moon.
By early morning, the stars have moved as the Earth has turned during the night. Before daybreak in June, Scorpius now lies low in the west-southwest, while to the south, Crux has almost reached its lowest point.
The long arm of Crux now points upward and a bit to the left, in the direction of the bright star Achernar, an Arabic name meaning "The End of the River."
Below Achernar you'll see Canopus, now the brightest star in the sky seeing that Sirius is no longer visible.
High overhead in the June morning sky is an even brighter light, the giant planet Jupiter, which rises around midnight. A pair of binoculars, suitably steadied, will show Jupiter's four major moons, discovered 400 years ago by Galileo. A line, drawn from Canopus to Achernar and extended, will point directly towards Jupiter.
Also on this line, between Achernar and Jupiter, is the bright star Fomalhaut. Its meaning, "Mouth of the Southern Fish", was assigned by medieval European astronomers based on its more ancient Arabic name.
Look to the north-west, below Jupiter and to the right of the setting scorpion, for the bright star Altair, the "Eagle Star", another ancient name handed down to us from Babylon and Sumeria.
With the Earth's turning from evening to morning, "new" stars have also appeared in the east, like Aries the Ram, and Cetus the Whale. However, they pale in comparison with the lovely planetary trio visible amongst them this June.
Brilliant Venus steals the spotlight in the east on June mornings, accompanied by reddish Mars and quick-moving Mercury. You may also notice that Orion will make his reappearance, shortly before the Sun rises, in the east.
Venus rises around 04:00 in the morning, so when its time for that first wake-up cup of coffee, the Morning Star is already high in the north-east.
Early in the month, Mars lies below Venus, but day by day the two planets draw closer together. On June 25 they are side-by-side in the morning sky. In the following days, Venus moves below the Red Planet.
Little Mercury lies some distance below and to the right of the bright pair. By the second week of June it should be easier to see. Mercury spends most of June moving closer to the bright orange star Aldebaran, the eye of Taurus the Bull, which lies to the left of Orion.
If you take a close look, you'll notice a small upside-down V shape of stars that has Aldebaran at one tip. On the morning of June 21, Mercury will move into position and adorn the other tip of the V!
Also keep an eye on the morning dance of the Moon with the planets. On June 13 and 14 the shrinking Moon is near Jupiter. By the 19th the Moon is just a slim crescent and will be to the left of Venus and Mars. The next two mornings, look for the Moon near the Seven Sisters star cluster, left of Mercury.
Happy star gazing!
/ph
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