* Astronomy

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June 2018

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Jupiter passes 0.9° north of Alpha Librae on the 6th June 2018

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The Moon is close to Mars in the constellation Capricornus at 11:58 UT, 3rd June 2018

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Lunar apogee (farthest from the Earth) is at 16:36 UT, 2nd June 2018

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Maximum southerly lunar declination (-20.727°) is at 07:08 UT, 1st June 2018

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The Moon passes north of Saturn at ~00:45 UT, 1st June 2018

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June has two main meteor showers, the Arietids and the June Bootids.
On the 8th the Earth will pass through a stream of dusty debris. Unfortunately, the Arietids are during the daylight hours. Though no one is sure where the Arietids dust comes from, some suspect it's debris from the sungrazing asteroid (1566) Icarus. Most Arietid meteors are invisible because the Sun is up when the shower is most intense.

Shower	Activity Period	Maximum	Radiant		Velocity	ZHR
		Date	R.A.	Dec.	km/s
June Scutids		3rd June
May-Librids		4th June	16.5h	-22.8°	12.2	4.2
June Lyrdis	June 1-21	5th June	17.3h	40.0 °	37.2	7
Arietids 12h (daylight)	June 2 - 14	8th June	20.9h	57.8°	12.4	52.7
Tau Herculids	May 19 - June 19	9th June	236°	41.0°
Theta Ophiuchids	May 21 - June 16	10-15th June	265	-28°	29	10
Pi Puppids		16th June	7.5h	-15.0°	24.8	25
Northern May Ophiuchids	17th June	17th June	18.5h	4.3 °	10
June Bootids	June 22-July 2	27th June	224°	+48°	18

The Bootid meteor shower will peak on the night of June 27th. The radiant is in the northern constellation Bootes, the Herdsman.

This shower is currently active during June 27 to July 5 and possesses a maximum of activity that falls on the 28th.
The June Bootids have an hourly rate between 3 and 100. The stream is noted for an especially strong display in 1916, and good displays in 1921 and 1927. The source of the June Bootids is comet 7P/Pons-Winnecke.
The meteors are primarily faint, with an average magnitude near 5, however, bright meteors do occur regularly.
Slow meteors are characteristic.
At maximum, the radiant is located at RA=233.7 deg, Dec=+52.2 deg.

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Highlights

The Solstice on June 21st (10:07 GMT) marks the official start of summer. It is the longest day for us in the northern hemisphere, and marks the celtic festival of Middansumor (AErra Liða)

The Summer Triangle -- Vega, Deneb, and Altair -- holds the central position, high in the south. The scorpion sits low to the south and slightly west. Directly to the arachnid's east is Sagittarius, the Archer, and between the two lies the direction toward the Milky Way galaxy's centre. The ribbon of soft light that delineates our galaxy flows up from the south, through the Triangle, and then cascades toward the northern horizon.

Out of the strange collection of heroes, heroines, animals and other assorted entities that make up the star pictures we have formed as the constellations of the night sky, none is stranger than the constellation Coma Bernices or Bernices Hair.
This clustering of faint stars is located about halfway between the bright stars Arcturus in Bootes and Regulus in the constellation of Leo the Lion. At one time, this faint asterism actually belonged to Leo as a tuft on a much more extended version of Leos tail. Leos tail tuft became a casualty of history in the 3rd century B.C. when Egypt was ruled by the pharaoh Ptolemy III and his wife Bernice. She possessed legendary beauty, the highlight of which was her long, flowing hair.

Notable Messier objects

M13 in the constellation Hercules, is one of the largest of over 100 globular clusters in our Galaxy. Located about 25,000 light-years away, it contains about half a million stars packed into a space only a few tens of light years in diameter. Globular clusters contain some of the oldest stars in the Universe.
M56 Also in the constellation of Lyra we find our first globular cluster of the night. In a telescope look for a small round ball of light, slightly brighter in the centre. This is a difficult binocular object appearing as a small fuzzy patch.
M27 Also known as the Dumbbell nebula, the largest planetary nebula in the Messier Catalogue, M27 lies in the constellation Vulpecula. Fairly easy to see in binoculars as a small hazy patch. In small to medium scopes it appears as a rectangular patch of light. In large scopes it may even appear round in shape with a bright rectangular, or dumbbell shaped core.