This week\u2019s stargazing highlights include the earliest sunrise of the year, and Venus clipping the top of the Beehive Cluster. <\/p>
What\u2019s in the night sky in the week of 12 to 18 June, 2023 in our weekly stargazing guide. This week\u2019s highlights include the earliest sunrise of the year and Venus clips the top of the Beehive Cluster.<\/p>
Chris Bramley <\/strong>Hello and welcome to Star Diary, the podcast from the makers of BBC Sky at Night Magazine. You can subscribe to the print edition of the magazine by visiting www.skyatnightmagazine.com<\/a> or digital edition by visiting on iTunes or Google Play.<\/p>\n Ezzy 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 12 to 18 June. I\u2019m Ezzy Pearson, the magazine\u2019s features editor, and I\u2019m joined on the podcast today by reviews editor Paul Money. Hello, Paul.<\/p>\n Paul Money <\/strong>Now then Ezzy. A few more things to look out for this week.<\/p>\n Ezzy <\/strong>Oh, what do we have coming up for us?<\/p>\n Paul <\/strong>Well, we\u2019re still keeping an eye on the evening sky for our favourite pair of planets, Mars<\/a> and Venus<\/a>, that seem to have been there forever, don\u2019t they? But the good news is, we mentioned last week that they straddled the Beehive Cluster<\/a>. Now that it\u2019s getting harder against the light background sky isn\u2019t it. We\u2019re heading\u2026 we\u2019re nearly at the summer solstice, so it\u2019s very, very light skies. But if you keep watching around about 10:30, because they\u2019re still reasonably well above the horizon, Venus creeps ever closer to the Beehive<\/a>. And on 13th it clips the northern edge of the Beehive Cluster, the sort of the fainter outer layers as such, whilst Mars lies off to the left of both of them. Venus is trying to catch up with Mars. But the latter stubbornly keeps ahead of the brighter planet. It\u2019s determined to be playing tag but its not playing tag. \u201cI\u2019m not going to let you catch up with me.\u201d But that would be a nice photographic view. Hopefully people photographed Mars when it was in the Beehive. And so now they\u2019ve got a chance to catch Venus just clipping the top edge. So that\u2019s on 13 June. Well, worth having a look out for. And let\u2019s hope we have some clear skies for it, and it\u2019s in the evening sky. Nice and convenient, isn\u2019t it? Now, you would say the next bit isn\u2019t convenient unless you like getting up. 3AM. in the morning. This is the next morning. June 14, the early morning. You\u2019ve got a lovely crescent moon. I love crescent moons. In fact, I was explaining to somebody on social media the other day because I\u2019d put up a picture and they\u2019d put their picture up. They were an amateur astronomer\u2026 They weren\u2019t even an amateur astronomer. They were just a general public. And they put a picture and said, I don\u2019t understand it.\u00a0 Why is the other side of the Moon lit up as well? So of course, that helped me lead into an explanation of the Earthshine on the Moon<\/a>. And when you\u2019ve got a nice crescent like this, you know it\u2019s well worth. You\u2019ll see the earthshine, which is the light bounced off the Earth back onto me. I always think of it as like, fill in flash with photographers sort of thing, because it\u2019s almost the same sort of effect. The light is being redirected back onto the night side of the Moon. But we\u2019ve got the added bonus. The Moon is really close to Jupiter as well, so they rise to the right about just before 3 a.m. over in the east northeast. Well worth having a look out for them. And then of course, you do need an uncluttered horizon Ezzy. That\u2019s probably usually why I can\u2019t see it because I haven\u2019t got an uncluttered east northeast horizon, unfortunately. Not to forget that the morning sky at the moment also has other planets. Two of the other giant planets, Saturn<\/a> and Neptune<\/a>. Saturn\u2019s in Aquarius. At the moment, Neptune has crept over and is actually in Pisces, so. Well worth having a look for them. They\u2019re roughly over in the east south east to the southeast. So and of course, if you\u2019ve got a telescope, have a look at Saturn. If you\u2019ve got a small telescope, you might just pick out Titan going around Saturn<\/a>. It\u2019ll be a little tiny dot of light moving either side of the planet itself. And of course, if you got a larger telescope, even I would look at the rings as well. It\u2019s one of those if show somebody for the first time Saturn, it\u2019s almost\u2026 You can see the look on the faces of utter wonderment\u00a0 I mean, I had somebody said to me, it really has got rings.<\/p>\n Ezzy <\/strong>It is. Any time we ask, you know, sort of people, what was the first thing you remember looking at the telescope and thinking, Wow, the rings of Saturn always come top. Always, always. Sometimes it\u2019s people say things like Jupiter\u2019s Great Red Spot<\/a> or, you know, a particularly distant galaxy or something like that, But you can\u2019t really beat Saturn\u2019s rings.<\/p>\n Paul <\/strong>No, you can\u2019t, Saturn\u2019s rings. I must admit, the view of the really good craters on the Moon<\/a>. Again, if it\u2019s one of if it\u2019s their first view through a telescope and the Moon\u2019s up and nothing else in show in the moon, and they just gasp because they can\u2019t believe the amount of detail you\u2019ve got on it. So I think, of course, we\u2019ve got the Moon. And funnily enough that leads into the next bit because I mentioned the moon and Jupiter. Now we do mention that you can see these things sometimes in daylight. So you\u2019ve got to be very careful. Obviously, we don\u2019t want to look too close to the Sun, but if you watched the Moon next to Jupiter, or close to Jupiter, and sort of like around about 3AM. as they rose, if you follow that into daylight, the moon creeps above and passes above Jupiter. So about 6AM. you\u2019ve actually got them. Jupiter just below the Moon. So that will make a nice photograph sort of thing for those who\u2019ve got a telescope. Well worth having a look at that. And visually, I mean, it\u2019s quite something to see the Moon in daylight. And I\u2019ve been photographing the Moon<\/a> fairly recently in daylight deliberately to show it can be seen in daylight. The amount of people who are stunned when you say\u00a0 and you can see. \u201cHang on, I can see the moon in daylight<\/a>, what\u2019s happening?\u201d And then you then it leads you into explaining about the phases of the Moon. And the Moon goes around us and there will be times it\u2019s visible in daytime. So but it can be seen for quite a run of days. In actual fact, in daytime, if you\u2019re careful. And in this particular case in the morning sky, say we\u2019ve got Jupiter and being a bright planet. This was\u2026 Jupiter and Venus, are the two that will stand out the most against a bright background sky. So well worth having a look. And that\u2019s on the 14th. But 6AM. onwards. But after that, Moon will slowly drift further away from Jupiter. So it\u2019s roughly at its closest around about 6AM. So something different to look for. But just as we always say, be very careful you don\u2019t move off from that, off to the left, basically, and you\u2019ve got the sun. So be very, very careful of such. Actually, we mentioned the Sun Ezzy. For those of us who\u2019ve got solar telescopes<\/a> and specialised equipment, the sun has been really, really, really activ<\/a>e.<\/p>\n Ezzy<\/strong> Absolutely.<\/p>\n Paul<\/strong> So if you\u2019ve got a hydrogen alpha telescope or any of these other specialised telescopes. Even a proper safe white light filter. There\u2019s been huge numbers of spots on the Sun, so well worth keeping an eye on the sun if you got the right equipment to look at it safely.<\/p>\n Ezzy <\/strong>That\u2019s right. Well, the sun is absolutely fantastic at the moment and in fact we have an article coming up in our July issue, which is all about how to look at the Sun safely in white light. So if anybody out there is interested in getting a better look at the Sun at the moment, do keep an eye out for that article in the July issue of BBC Sky at Night Magazine.<\/a> And of course, subscribe for all of our great content delivered straight to your door.<\/p>\n Paul <\/strong>Exactly. So let\u2019s get back to the night sky then, because the night sky, that\u2019s where it was. Astronomers really thrived don\u2019t we. But, you know, June 16. Now, this is a faint one, but it\u2019s always great to tick off another minor world, you know, and your little list of sort of minor worlds of the Solar System you\u2019ve actually observed. And in this particular case, minor planet 20 Massalia<\/a> is at opposition. It\u2019s magnitude +10.0, which when you consider that supernova, we\u2019re talking about magnitude +11 at his brightest, magnitude +10.0 is pretty good. The minor world does lie Ophiucus<\/a>, so it is quite low. That\u2019s seen midnight to 2am whilst the sky is\u2026 I was going to say \u201cat its darkest\u201d We are, you know, literally less than a week away from the summer solstice<\/a>. So the sky will be light. But that period \u2013 midnight to 2am \u2013 is about the best time for the darkest part of the summer sky. But well, with ticking that off sort of thing, if you want another asteroid. You do need a good chart<\/a>. And of course you got one in the Sky at Night magazine sort of thing for the June issue. So, you know, if you\u2019ve got that issue, you\u2019ll be able to find that. And so, well worth\u2026\u00a0 A lot of this software, you know, you find apps on your phone and things like that, will actually show these minor worlds as well. You often have to dig into the settings sometimes to make sure they\u2019re visible and the brightness sort of thing. Because if you keep the brightness, the magnitude limitation down, it won\u2019t show it. But you put that all but don\u2019t put it too high because there are tens of thousands of asteroids and minor planets and the screen suddenly goes filled.<\/p>\n Ezzy <\/strong>You do you do need to\u2026 There is lots of things out there. The universe is quite large. Famously quite big. So you do need to be careful that you\u2019re not overwhelming yourself.<\/p>\n Paul <\/strong>We finish really sort of thing with the\u2026 And it\u2019s a bit of an oddity because it depends on whether you like watching sunrises. And again you have to do this very, very carefully of course. But June 17th, it marks the earliest sunrise of the year it doesn\u2019t quite coincide, it\u2019s one of those little myths that the earliest sunrises always on the summer solstice. That isn\u2019t the case. It\u2019s a little quirk sort of thing of the way our things work in the Universe. And so the earliest sunrise is at 4:38 BST sort of thing. So 4:30AM, although the difference, to be quite frank, is mere seconds between them. So for all intents and purposes, nearly all week you can see around about 4:38 all week it barely changes as we head towards the summer solstice next week. But technically June 17 is the earliest. So if you one of those that like to catch things sort of thing at the very at the very moment when they occur, then June 17. If you can watch the sunrise, I mean I\u2019d go if I had a chance I\u2019d go down to Stonehenge and it wouldn\u2019t be quite in the right time sort of thing for seeing it rise between the whichever stones they are at Stonehenge. But 17th is the earliest technically, so well worth having a look for that just in case. So there we are. A range of things to look out for. And, you know, it\u2019s well worth keeping your eye out because we never know what\u2019s going to happen. We never know with the maybe another supernova. In fact that week that the supernova was discovered that we mentioned the other week in the Pinwheel Galaxy, there were two other supernova in galaxies as well. Slightly fainter. I haven\u2019t seen them, haven\u2019t imaged them and we\u2019re into the light nights now. But this is the thing about astronomy, isn\u2019t it. Something can happen. We can have an outburst from a comet. A new nova could be discovered. Things like that. We could have a display of Noctilucent Clouds<\/a> or even very rarely like does happen \u2013 the aurora. The aurora borealis. I\u2019ve seen that in July. So very rare. Only twice in my lifetime that I\u2019ve ever seen that. But you never know. So there we are. Always keep a look on the sky. You never know what you\u2019ll see.<\/p>\n Ezzy <\/strong>Yes. Astronomy is this very strange mixture of these things that we can predict 2,000 years in advance. And then there\u2019s something that will come along and we\u2019ve got no idea it\u2019s about to happen and everybody will rush to go and see it. So that\u2019s one of the reasons why I really like, you know, space observing and everything like that, because you never quite sure what\u2019s going to happen. But thank you very much, Paul, for taking us through that week\u2019s stargazing highlights. And to just summarise those again, Mars and Venus continue to get closer and on 13 June, Venus just clips the top of the Beehive Cluster. Then on the morning of 14th we\u2019ve got quite a lot going on with the planets. The crescent moon and Jupiter are going to be close to the horizon and close to each other at about 3AM. You can also see Saturn and Neptune in that early morning sky and possibly even at 6AM. you might catch the Moon and Jupiter in the daylight sky close together. 16th June is a great chance to see the minor planets Massalia. There you will need to get a chart to be able to find it. And on 17 June, it\u2019s the earliest sunrise of the year, though it\u2019s pretty much about the same time all throughout the week. But it does mean it\u2019s a great time to do some solar observing as well. The Sun is extremely active at the moment, so definitely if you\u2019ve got some solar equipments to be able to do it, get out and do that safely.<\/p>\n And if you want to keep up to date with the best things to see in the night sky every week, do be sure to subscribe to the podcast and we hope to see you here next week if you want to find out even more spectacular sites that will be gracing the night sky this month, be sure to pick up a copy of BBC Sky at Night magazine, where we have a six page pull out sky guide with a full overview of everything worth looking up for throughout the whole month. Whether you like to look at the moon, the planets, or the deep sky, whether you use binoculars<\/a>, telescopes<\/a> or neither, our sky Guide has got you covered with detailed star charts to help you track your way across the night sky. From all of us here at BBC Sky Night Magazine, goodbye.<\/p>\n