Mercury - much closer to Earth at 0.9 AU, is obviously the smaller of the two planets but appears 7″ across due to its proximity. It can be quite interesting to compare the appearance of the two planets in your eyepiece. Plus, you’ll want to put away any optics well before the Sun is due to rise from your location. The earlier you look, the better, as the magnitude 5.9 ice giant will get harder to see as the sky lightens. A clear eastern horizon will aid in identifying the bright morning star once you’ve found it, use binoculars or a telescope to slide north and look for Uranus in the growing twilight. The smaller, closer planet is brightening quickly, now magnitude 0.2 after starting the month 0.2 magnitude fainter. Mercury is just 4° high, with Uranus still to its north (upper left on the sky).
Some 40 minutes before sunrise, the pair is low on the eastern horizon. This morning you can use brighter, naked-eye Mercury to point the way, as the two planets lie within 3° of each other after Mercury passes 3° due south of Uranus at 1 A.M. The distant ice giant Uranus typically requires binoculars or a telescope to spot. Though low, naked-eye Mercury can point the way.
DARK MOON PHASE FULL
Moon Phase: Full Challenge yourself to find Uranus with binoculars just before sunrise in early June. Scanning this region in general will show a stunning, almost 3D view of our satellite as shallow shadows cross the rugged landscape.
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Keep looking toward the lunar limb to see if you can spot Hayn on the far edge, nearly in profile. Here you’ll find the young crater Thales - young in comsic terms, at least! A few hundred million years old, this pockmark features a V-shaped fan of debris spreading southwestward, hinting at the shallow angle of the hit that created it. Once you’ve got the Moon in your sights, aim for the northeastern rim.
Dedicated Moon filters can also make observing Earth’s satellite more comfortable and bring out subtle detail. Or, you can even wear sunglasses as you peep through the eyepiece. Viewing the Full Moon with a telescope can be quite bright, but there are a few tricks you can use to keep your eyes from watering! Opt for higher magnification, which will reduce your telescope’s field of view and let less light through. Given that the blazing Full Moon will definitely steal the show, let’s put our focus there. Instead of pink, though, you may instead notice a slight yellowish cast to Luna tonight, as it follows the lowest path in the sky it will take this year. The June Full Moon is also called the Strawberry Moon, as it occurs around the time these berries are ripe and ready to pick in North America. local time from the same location.įull Moon occurs late tonight at 11:42 P.M. The Moon’s illumination is given at 12 P.M. *Times for sunrise, sunset, moonrise, and moonset are given in local time from 40° N 90° W. Brilliant Venus, which tonight is an unmissable evening star at the border of Gemini and Cancer (currently to Mars’ west, or lower right), is also moving east and will make its own visit to the Beehive later this month. Mars will remain among the Beehive’s stars for at least another night as the planet moves slowly east along the ecliptic. This pairing will make a great target for astrophotography, as even a relatively short exposure should net you a great view. Based on its age, distance, and motion through the galaxy, astronomers suspect the Beehive and the Hyades in Taurus, now rising with the Sun and invisible in the daytime sky, may have a common origin some 700 to 800 million years ago. Far beyond the solar system, M44 lies nearly 600 light-years away. The planet’s disk is 5″ across - it will likely appear as a small circle rather than a pinpoint of light like the stars scattered behind it. Mars currently stands roughly 2 astronomical units from Earth (1 astronomical unit, or AU, is the average Earth-Sun distance). Binoculars, a small scope, or even your finder scope are all great choices.
DARK MOON PHASE PATCH
The magnitude 3.7 cluster is readily visible to the naked eye as a grayish-white fuzzy patch once the sky grows dark, with one brighter, ruddy point of light that is magnitude 1.6 Mars.īecause the cluster is so large - it has an apparent diameter of just over 1.5° - you’ll want to opt for lower magnifications to catch its myriad stars and the planet currently visiting them. The Red Planet sits perfectly nestled among the glittering stars of the Beehive Cluster (M44) in the central regions of Cancer the Crab. Look west shortly after sunset tonight and you’ll find Mars stealing the show high above the horizon. A Full Strawberry Moon shines amid gauzy clouds above Herndon, Virginia in June 2016.
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