www.skyatnightmagazine.com<\/a>, or to our digital edition by visiting iTunes or Google Play.<\/p>\nEzzy Pearson <\/strong>Greetings, listeners, and welcome to Star Diary, a weekly guide to the best things to see in the Northern Hemisphere\u2019s night Sky. In this episode, we\u2019ll be covering the coming week from the 20th to 26th June. I\u2019m Ezzy Pearson, the magazine\u2019s news editor, and I\u2019m joined on the podcast today by reviews editor Paul Mooney. Hello, Paul.<\/p>\nPaul Money <\/strong>Hello, Ezzy. Everything all right?<\/p>\nEzzy Pearson <\/strong>Everything is fine. But can you tell us, will everything be fine in the sky tonight?<\/p>\nPaul Money <\/strong>Well, I can\u2019t promise clear skies, that is definitely beyond my reach.<\/p>\nEzzy Pearson <\/strong>\u00a0But if the skies are clear, what can people see tonight?<\/p>\nPaul Money <\/strong>Well, we we start off with the morning sky because it\u2019s all happening really in the morning sky at the moment, because this week we\u2019ve got the parade of planets, as I like to call it. And what we\u2019ve got is Saturn is the highest. It\u2019s well up. By, say, about 3:20 in the morning on the 20\/21, which really well up in the sky, it\u2019s over in the south east towards the south. So we know it\u2019s well-placed to observe now. It\u2019s getting it\u2019s now to the point where it\u2019s beginning to rise around about midnight. So we get a better chance to observe it when it\u2019s high up. Instead of looking through that all that murky atmosphere low down. So its well placed. And a minor world Vesta is not too far from it in nearby Aquarius as well. But the moon\u2019s up in this region and this is why it sort of always attracts our attention, because the moon will pass several planets. Now, it passed Saturn just a few days ago. So it\u2019s last week\u2019s session. So on the 21st, the last quarter moon, it lies forming a triangle with bright Jupiter and much fainter Neptune. Obviously You need a telescope to find Neptune. You can do Neptune in large binoculars. It\u2019s a myth that you only need a telescope for Neptune, but you can do it with large binoculars. So the first last quarter, moon formed a triangle with Jupiter and Neptune and, it\u2019s always nice to have the moon guide you to these planets. I mean, Jupiter\u2019s easy.<\/p>\nEzzy Pearson <\/strong>It\u2019s definitely\u2026 it\u2019s one that jumps out and hits you around the face, even when you\u2019re not looking for it, when it\u2019s nice and bright.<\/p>\nPaul Money <\/strong>It and Venus sort of thing. Yeah, if you can\u2019t find them, then you\u2019re in trouble. But it\u2019s a but Neptune. It\u2019s nice when something like the moon because the moon\u2019s formed this nice triangle. So it gives you a good idea roughly where to aim the binoculars and a telescope to capture Neptune itself. Now, the next morning on the 22nd, the moon still forms a triangle, but this time it\u2019s with Jupiter and Mars. So Jupiter, Mars and Neptune, they\u2019re not quite\u2026 Jupiter\u2019s not quite piggy in the middle. But it\u2019s close to it. So it means that when the moon\u2019s\u2026 Next time is actually forming this shallow triangle with Jupiter and Mars as well. So. So we\u2019ve got Saturn, we\u2019ve got Jupiter and Mars. We\u2019ve actually got quite a host of bright planets. We\u2019ve got Venus as well. And the thing about Venus is it\u2019s very low down. It is gradually heading back into the solar glare. So it\u2019s one of those things that we will steadily lose it, but it\u2019s one of those quirks that if you if you determined to stay up Venus again is so bright, even in bright twilight, you can often pick it out. So it takes longer for us to actually lose Venus itself. But in the meantime, not too far away from Venus and just beginning to emerge, and it will be a bit of a challenge at this stage, is Uranus. So you got quite a lot of planets up there. So we\u2019ve got Venus, Uranus, Mars, Jupiter, Neptune, Saturn. And of course you can throw in our own moon and Vesta as well. So it\u2019s quite an interesting sight at the moment. But I say Uranus will be the challenge because of the twilight itself. But then, you know, Venus is nearby. So, you know, if you get bored trying to find Uranus and can\u2019t find it, you know, you\u2019ve got brilliant Venus nearby to actually spot it. And that takes us to really the very last day because on the 26th, the crescent moon, now we are getting to a very thin crescent moon now. It lies roughly above Venus. Now this is a photo opportunity, surely because of crescent moon, above brilliant Venus is always an attractive picture anyway. So astrophotographers out there. Come on, let\u2019s see your pictures of that.<\/p>\nEzzy Pearson <\/strong>Absolutely.<\/p>\nPaul Money <\/strong>Exactly. I mean, there is a bonus, though, and it\u2019s always difficult because we are talking about the end of June. We\u2019re just past the actual solstice. That was on the 21st. So, you know, we are in actual fact, dealing with the solstice. So the skies are light. We have the inevitable cries \u201cOh, we can\u2019t do any astronomy during the summer because the skies are light.\u201d Now. To be fair, the further north you are, that does apply because the skies are too light. But you know, for quite a few of these light mid-latitudes, we can still see a reasonable amount of stuff. Now, the thing about this is that the Moon and Venus also form a triangle with the Pleiades. So they\u2019re emerging now out after being hidden by the solar glare. But it\u2019s one of those things that the bright twilight might well cause you to have problems with them. So, you know, use binoculars. I\u2019m not sure whether they\u2019ll actually be naked eye. I\u2019ve tried at this time of year to observe them, and I found it very difficult. You also, as we often say, you need a clear, uncluttered horizon because they are quite low down. You\u2019re looking roughly east northeast in that general region, a little bit more towards the northeast part. And so, you know, it\u2019s the twilight that I think might be the problem. But having Venus and the Moon as a guide, then you stand at least a chance. And I think with binoculars you might just pick them out. But we\u2019re looking at about 3:20 in the morning. So, you know, it\u2019s quite early, but, you know, it won\u2019t be too long before the sun\u2019s just too well\u2026 The sky\u2019s too bright to capture this. So, you know, it\u2019s one of those things. But at the same time, we\u2019ve got an additional bonus. And this is why I like it as a photographic opportunity, because when it\u2019s a slim crescent, the moon, we see the earth shine on it. And we have mentioned the earthshine a few times before. And it\u2019s second hand light bounced off the Earth\u2019s bright, reflective surface and atmosphere back onto the moon, it illuminates the night side of the moon. So that\u2019s why we call it Earthshine, because it\u2019s actually light bounced off the Earth, illuminating the night side of the moon. So it looks quite ephemeral. I always think of seeing this.<\/p>\nPaul Money <\/strong>It has this kind of like, as you said, like the sort of aethereal, ephemeral beauty about it, that you can sort of just see the shadows of the shadows in the shadow. It\u2019s like kind of. Yeah, you. You can see it. It\u2019s quite incredible.<\/p>\nEzzy Pearson <\/strong>It\u2019s a bit ghostly.<\/p>\nPaul Money <\/strong>Yeah, absolutely ghostly.\u00a0<\/strong>And the thing is, if you\u2019re careful with a telescope, binoculars. You can see some of the features of the moon. They\u2019re subtle. Yeah, right. That really are on the edge. But, you know,\u00a0 it\u2019s quite fun, actually, to see and especially some of the bright ray craters actually do stand out quite well on the Earthshine. So there we are. So we\u2019ve got Venus, we\u2019ve got the crescent moon, we\u2019ve got Earthshine. And you never know. You might pick out the Pleiades. Messier 45, just emerging out of the solar glare. But they will be at a bit of a challenge. But I like challenges. You know, that\u2019s the whole point is easy to do the regular things all the time. But sometimes, you know, having a side challenge just to see whether you can do something like that.<\/p>\nEzzy Pearson <\/strong>As I always think challenges is how you grow better in a hobby. You\u2019re doing this for your enjoyment, but if you want to grow and improve, the best way is to try to stretch yourself and challenge yourself to to do these things are a bit more difficult. So definitely, yeah. Hopefully some of our listeners out there will challenge themselves and find a new ability that they didn\u2019t know they had before.<\/p>\nPaul Money <\/strong>So to finish off for this particular week then\u2026 Actually if you\u2026. We have got Comet and it\u2019s Comet 2017 K2 Panstarrs and the thing about this is that it is visible in binoculars, it\u2019s roughly about mag +8. So don\u2019t get excited you won\u2019t see a massive great tail or anything like that. But the point about this is, again, we often highlight when they\u2019re close to something that helps guide you to it. And in this particular case, and she\u2019s moving past the star Beta Ophiuci. So magnitude 2.7 for that star. So that\u2019s a naked eye, easy to see star. So it\u2019s worth going out because over the course of the next few days, on June 21st through to the 23rd. Comet, Panstarrs passes that star quite close. So if you use binoculars and then get, say, two or three mornings that are actually two or three evenings, I should say clear. Then you can see the comet slide past this bright star. So it won\u2019t be the comet itself, won\u2019t be anything great to shout out about visually, you know, but it\u2019ll be worth having a look at. I mean, a few people have noted there is a bit of a tail, but it is very tiny. But best of viewing as you get closer to midnight. When we\u2019re in the summer solstice or close to the summer solstice, then the darkest bit is really around about midnight and you\u2019ve got probably around midnight. It\u2019s not even dark, but you know that about an hour or so, that\u2019s about the best time you\u2019ll have before the skies really start to get light. That\u2019s why there\u2019s such a problem for Deep Sky Astrophotography We don\u2019t really have enough time to do the long exposures or even lots of exposures. So, you know, have a nice finish to the week sort of thing to get that. So we end on a comet, so we\u2019ve ghad planets with the moon sort of thing, you know, with the Pleiades and we had a comet as well, so there we are.<\/p>\nPaul Money <\/strong>Hmm. So whilst it might not be the best time of year to do some deep sky astrophotography, there are a couple of other photo opportunities that you mentioned there too, around the crescent moon and Venus and the places coming together. And so if any of our listeners do take up your your challenge on that one to take some photos, please do let us know. We have details over on our website www.skyatnightmagazine.com. About how you can submit them and we always print the best ones every month in the magazine, so maybe one of our listeners images will end up in the magazine. But thank you, Paul, for telling us about all of them.<\/p>\nPaul Money <\/strong>My pleasure. Let\u2019s hope we get some clear skies.<\/p>\nChris Bramley <\/strong>Thank you for listening to this episode of Star Diary our podcast from the makers of BBC Sky at Night Magazine, which was produced in our Bristol studio by Brittany Collie for more of our podcasts. Visit our website at www.skyatnightmagazine.com or head to Acast, iTunes or Spotify.<\/p>\n\u00a0<\/p><\/body><\/html>\n
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