The Night Sky

from etcetera magazine June 2023

Owls in Our Region Owls in Our Region

Welcome To The June Edition Of The Night Sky

The month of June sees the return of the prominent constellation of Scorpius. It can be found rising towards the south, just ahead of a bright area of the Milky Way. The farther south you are, the more chance you will have of spotting the 'Tail' or 'Sting' of the scorpion. Higher up in the same region of the sky can be found the constellation of Ophiuchus or the Serpent Bearer. This is an area which is often imaged by astrophotographers as it holds many bright and colourful objects; M10 and M12 (good globular clusters), the Blue Horse Head, and beautiful gas and dust patterns close to the Milky Way. With binoculars you will be able to resolve many details of M10. The summer solstice will be on the 21st of the month, so it is perhaps time to engage in some strange rituals… or do what we astronomers do and welcome the return of the Summer Triangle.

The Moon phases and observing highlights

Full Moon phase; 4th at around 4:45am

Last Quarter Phase; 10th 8:30pm

New Moon Phase; 18th 5:30am

First Quarter Phase; 26th 8:50am

A very pretty, although challenging, observing task for this month will mean leaving your bed in the early hours of the morning on the 14th. A 25 day old, waning crescent Moon may be found rising with the planet of Jupiter very close behind it. Ensure that you have a clear view of the eastern horizon and be careful not to be looking too close to the Sun as it rises. With binoculars or a small telescope, this close encounter - a mere 1.5 degrees separates the Moon and Jupiter - will be even more interesting.

Planets in June

Mercury is at its best during the mornings in mid to late June although it will be a little low. On the 11th it will be at its farthest from the rising Sun and by the end of the month it will be far too close to the Sun to observe. Venus is a beautiful evening planet which will be visible towards the west and on the 21st can be seen close to a 3 day old crescent Moon. Mars is to be found low in the west this month although a little less bright than earlier in the year. Jupiter is returning to our morning skies this month and can be observed rising in the east during twilight hours. On the 14th it will be very close to a thin crescent Moon if you can be up and about by around 5am. Unfortunately Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune are not well placed for observing this month.

Meteor shower - The Bootids

This short and variable meteor shower will only be active from the 27th to the 30th. The Bootids is a shower which will have quite different rates from one year to the next although it has occasional strong outbursts.

ByClaire Wardlaw

Claire Wardlaw, originally from Edinburgh, lives in the Charente with her husband. Since their move nearly 6 years ago, Claire has become passionate about astronomy mile wide crater. At midday the temperature down there, amongst the hills, would be 430 degrees Celsius. Those orange coloured areas dotted around the basin may well be volcanic vents. The surface of this planet seems less hospitable to human investigation, so, for today we will observe from the safety of our virtual craft.

Image of the month - Mercury

A very pretty, although challenging, observing task for this month will mean leaving your bed in the early hours of the morning on the 14th

Unfortunately, the Moon on these dates will be fairly bright too so it is perhaps not the most favourable meteor shower to try to observe.

Virtual space journey - No.3 To Mercury at 8.64 light-minutes from Earth

As we always observe the planet of Mercury very close to the horizon and therefore through our atmosphere, we will journey this month past this haze for much clearer views. We will have much better views of this tiny, rocky world than even the Messenger spacecraft had during its flyby in 2008. Our spacecraft will take us past the mirky atmosphere and close enough to notice how similar to the Moon Mercury's surface is. As we position our craft a mere 124 miles above the surface we will see in detail the Caloris Basin with its spidery web pattern. It was formed during an impact around four billion years ago. The basin is around 1000 miles across and in the centre you can see the 25

This image (left), taken by the Messenger spacecraft in orbit about the planet, shows its cratered surface. This small world is covered in craters which were created by millions of years of impacts by meteoroids. Mercury is the smallest planet in the Solar System, only slightly larger than our Moon and closest to our Sun. It fully rotates on its axis in 58 days 15 hours and 30 minutes. Mercury has no rings or moons and completes an orbit of the Sun in 88 Earth days.

Researchers at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University reported that more accurate spaceweather predictions and safer satellite navigation through radiation belts could someday result from new insights into "space waves". To find out more about this research go to www.phys.org

Mercury and Venus are described as the inferior planets simply because they orbit closer to the Sun than we do here on Earth. For some of their orbits they are impossible to observe as they are hidden by the brilliance of the Sun. The best times to view these planets are the times when they are furthest from the Sun - for example, in the eastern evening sky or in the western morning sky.

Well blow me down with a feather, it’s June already. By the time some of you read this, we may well be over halfway through the year. Where does the time go eh? Don’t answer that literally, I simply don’t have the capacity to think about it. Anyhoo, how are you all? Keeping fit, well and beach-ready for summer? That was a throwback to when I was a feature writer for Cosmopolitan magazine by the way! The general idea was ‘just do crunches’ or something like that. Didn’t work for me.

By now, I will assume that everyone has upgraded to an HD satellite receiver in order to keep their BBC channels. There are a few reports of BBC One still not being available after doing so. That is likely down to dish alignment. There have been many ‘behind the scenes’ changes and if most channels are available but BBC One HD remains elusive, then it’s probably worth getting your alignment checked.

Freesat is not the same as Freeview. Do not buy a Freeview box for UK TV reception. I’m trying to let this go, but it keeps happening.

Contrary to popular belief, you do not have to have a wideband LNB to use the latest Freesat+ receiver

You can now rent Starlink satellite internet. The monthly service cost remains at 50 euros per month but you can also now rent the equipment for an additional 15 euros per month. There is also a one-off 50 euros activation charge (cheeky). Or, if you prefer to purchase outright, it’s 50 euros per month and (at time of writing) a kit fee of 300 euros (usually 450 euros). I would imagine purchasing outright is far better value for most people, but renting may work for some people, especially if you know fibre internet is on its way to your location within the year perhaps?

Contrary to popular belief, you do not have to have a wideband LNB to use the latest Freesat+ receiver. It’ll work perfectly well from a standard twin output LNB. In fact it’ll work using just a single cable from a standard LNB, but you’ll not be able to record one channel whilst watching another. The wideband LNB will allow you to record up to four channels at the same time, but if you can find that many things worth recording then perhaps you need to take stock of your life?

Please remember that I no longer cover the same areas as I used to. See my advert for details. I cover a 90 mins radius of 79240. Google Maps will help you with this.

▪ UK free-to-air/ Freesat