{"id":46554,"date":"2023-06-18T07:01:42","date_gmt":"2023-06-18T07:01:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.skyatnightmagazine.com\/?p=119480"},"modified":"2023-06-18T08:33:46","modified_gmt":"2023-06-18T08:33:46","slug":"star-diary-19-to-25-june-2023","status":"publish","type":"rss_feed","link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/rss_feed\/star-diary-19-to-25-june-2023\/","title":{"rendered":"Star Diary: 19 to 25 June, 2023"},"content":{"rendered":"

As the summer solstice approaches, we take a look at Venus and Mars in this week\u2019s stargazing guide <\/p>

By Ezzy Pearson\n \t\t<\/p>

Published: Sunday, 18 June 2023 at 12:00 am<\/p>

\n\n

What\u2019s in the night sky in the week of 19 to 25 June, 2023 in our weekly stargazing guide. As the summer solstice approaches, take a look at Venus and Mars in this week\u2019s stargazing guide<\/p>\n\n

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 19 to 25 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>Hello there Ezzy. I\u2019m hoping that we get some nice clear skies, even though they are light skies at the moment as we head towards the summer solstice<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Ezzy <\/strong>But that doesn\u2019t necessarily mean that won\u2019t be anything worth looking up for. So what are your recommendations for the coming week?<\/p>\n

Paul <\/strong>Well, we\u2019ll kick off with the evening sky because that\u2019s the most observable time of the sky, if you ask me. Around about 10:30 sky will be light. But if you look towards the northwest, we have a very, very, very slim crescent moon<\/a>. It\u2019s not the slimmest it can possibly be, but there\u2019s still a something about them. You know, this really thin crescent hanging there in the twilight sky, and you\u2019ve got Castor and Pollux<\/a> actually forming a triangle. The moon is the peak, the apex of that triangle, with Castor and Pollux in Gemini. So they should be visible as well as the sky darkens, as they begin to set. But it\u2019s a lovely view. You will have a Earthshine<\/a> as well, although when it\u2019s so low and so slim that the twilight may overwhelm the actual Earthshine itself. But in the meantime, of course, if you look over to the left, towards the west northwest, Guess what we find? Yes! The dynamic duo still up, and that is Venus<\/a> and Mars<\/a>. Now, as we head into the summer solstice, which happens on 21st at 3:58 in the afternoon this year, the sun will be at its most northerly position in the sky. And in the evening sky we find the crescent moon actually lie to the upper right of Venus. And then the next evening to the upper left of Mars. And that\u2019s 21st and 22nd. So even on the summer solstice, there\u2019s something to see in the evening sky. And again this time you should see some earthshine with the actual moon as it passes Venus and Mars. And it\u2019s surprising. It\u2019s one of those things that because you can\u2019t really see the faint background stars, you don\u2019t realise how much Venus and Mars have moved into their own background positions against the background stars, which is a shame, but it\u2019s around about one and a half moon widths. So, you know, you\u2019re looking at a distance of a degree\u2026 a degree and a half, sort of thing, actual motion of those planets. But because we haven\u2019t got the reference stars behind to actually easily show that it\u2019s hard to appreciate just how much they\u2019re actually moving. Yet they are still slowly descending into the bright evening sky, but the will keep ahead of it for a while yet. So we haven\u2019t got rid of them yet, folks. They\u2019re still going to hang around doing their little dance and, as I say, Venus won\u2019t catch it with Mars. Mars is plain tag, and it\u2019s staying ahead. It\u2019s determined to keep ahead of the bright planet. Now, on 23rd, the interesting thing is they gradually heading towards the boundary between Cancer<\/a> and Leo<\/a>. And on 23rd, literally, Venus and Mars are either, side equal distance, either side of the boundary between the constellations. But the trouble is we can\u2019t see that, can we? We can\u2019t see the boundary. It would be very useful if you could see these boundaries I have to say, and the lines, but it\u2019s one of those things. But they will be creeping closer to Regulus<\/a> in Leo and I mentioned this because on 23rd. We often tend to think of the spring constellation of Leo is lost once we get to the summer solstice. But in actual fact it does linger for a week or two before we finally lose it. And so the the thick of crescent moon over to the upper left of Regulus on the 23rd, and then there\u2019ll be Mars and Venus to the lower right, the other side of the star as well. So well worth keeping an eye out for that. And as I say there\u2019s not a great deal happening other than that in the night sky. But, it\u2019s worth now turning to morning sky because we now we\u2019ve got Saturn<\/a> and Neptune<\/a> in the morning sky. They\u2019ve been quite prominent because they rose quite early on. I\u2019m looking at around 3AM, so the skies aren\u2019t quite light. You might be lucky. If you if you go out looking for these things, you never know. You might catch a display of Noctilucent Clouds<\/a> as well. So you might get several things happening. But it\u2019s not just such a Neptune we\u2019ve gotten Jupiter<\/a>. Jupiter will be better placed now over in the east. But they are joined finally by Uranus<\/a>. And Uranus is emerging out of the glare of the Sun. And so about 3:00AM, you should be able to look towards the east, slightly to the left of the east and you find Jupiter. And then Uranus is visible. So we\u2019ve got the four giant planets back into the night sky as well. But the problem with Uranus and Neptune is that you\u2019ve got the light sky, so you\u2019ve got to bear that in mind. Binoculars and telescopes should actually show them. So we\u2019ve got, all the four outer major planets now on display. And why feels like ages since we\u2019ve seen Uranus. Months, literally months.<\/p>\n

Ezzy <\/strong>It does seem to be, this year in general has been really great for the planets. Not necessarily always, you know, the best placed on the night sky or they\u2019re in the morning. But there has been a lot going on with them over the past couple of months, which is always good to see. I always love a good planet.<\/p>\n

Paul <\/strong>And, you know, now we\u2019ve got Jupiter back. We can keep an eye on the Great Red Spot<\/a> because quite a few astrophotographers have pointed out that it is actually shrinking. You know, NASA\u2019s agreed that it does seem to have shrunk a little bit. So I hope we\u2019re not in the phase of losing it in the next few years, perhaps few decades. But, you know, it\u2019s one of those things. It\u2019s been part of our lives ever since I started astronomy sort of thing and for hundreds of years. So, you know, but you never know. It could have a revival. It may be just having a fading. The interesting thing is we can\u2019t see it in the sky at the moment, but the news is that Betelgeuse<\/a> is doing something erratic again and it\u2019s gone brighter than it should do, and it\u2019s in the blooming summer sky so we can\u2019t see it.<\/p>\n

Ezzy <\/strong>Oh no, isn\u2019t that difficult? Yeah, always happens. Something interesting when we can\u2019t see it. So, Orion<\/a> is probably up in the southern hemisphere\u2019s night sky right now.<\/p>\n

Paul <\/strong>They getting it, low in the evening sky for them. But of course, for us it\u2019s too bright, because it\u2019s in the summer sky for us, however, you know it won\u2019t be\u2026 Give it another month, a month and a half, and it will creep back into the morning sky for us as well. So I can\u2019t wait to see it.\u00a0 I want to see what\u2019s going on, you know. Because we have the great dimming two years ago, three years ago, near enough now. And so that was quite something that was quite dramatic sort of thing. But, you know, this this is it got brighter again, this one\u2019s brighter than normal. So, you know, the question is why. We know it\u2019s a red supergiant so we know it should be coming towards the end of its life. But usually we talk about, you know, probably tens of thousands of years at least before it goes bang. So, will it go bang, we don\u2019t know. But wouldn\u2019t it be amazing if we suddenly woke up to another star in the sky, bright sun in the sky and the think, hang on there\u2019s two? Almost like Tatooine<\/a> in Star Wars<\/a>, when you see two stars, two suns in the sky. Because it would be bright. It be bright enough to be seen in daylight. I don\u2019t.<\/p>\n

Ezzy <\/strong>Think it would be quite as bright as the Sun. That would be slightly worrying.<\/p>\n

Paul <\/strong>It would be worrying, yes. I would say running for the hills, but it wouldn\u2019t do as much good, would it?<\/p>\n

Ezzy <\/strong>Definitely be visible, but I think it is\u2026 current theories are still it\u2019s not about to go supernova imminently<\/a>. But you know, this is astronomy and space science. So we\u2019re talking, you know, +\/- a million years or so is not an uncommon sentence to hear.<\/p>\n

Paul <\/strong>I love saying that when I do my public star and I saw them point out Betelgeuse, and say \u201cby the way, it could go bang, but it could it could be light tomorrow, but it could be up to a million years.\u201d And people\u2026 Hanging on a\u2026 million years? So. Yeah, but it could go tomorrow.<\/p>\n

Ezzy <\/strong>Yeah, I think current thinking is 10,000 years is about what they\u2019re looking at. But as it gets closer to the end of its life, it is going to start doing more stuff.<\/p>\n

Paul <\/strong>Odd things. Being erratic..<\/p>\n

Ezzy <\/strong>Yes. And it had a big\u2026 They think it was a big dust release that happened back in\u2013 oh, when was that?<\/p>\n

Paul <\/strong>2020.<\/p>\n

Ezzy <\/strong>2020.<\/p>\n

Paul <\/strong>late 2019, early 2020. Just locked down occurred. yeah. So I\u2019ve got photographs showing it and dramatically different to what it used to be. Quite something.<\/p>\n

Ezzy <\/strong>You know, maybe it\u2019s something related to that, maybe it\u2019s some other thing. But you know, it\u2019s Beetlejuice is going to be very in quite a lot of a well, who knows how lot. So that\u2019s going to definitely be one to keep an eye on. But thank you, Paul, for taking us through this week\u2019s highlights. To summarise those again, on 19 June and the evening sky, Castor and Pollux are going to form a triangle with the crescent moon. Venus and Mars continue to move across the sky together. On 21st, it\u2019s also the summer solstice. On 21st and 22nd. The crescent moon appears to the upper right of Venus. And look in the evening twilight for the moon, Mars and Venus as they almost line up together with Regulus\u2026 not quite, but almost. And then finally, on\u00a0 25th in the morning sky, Uranus is just beginning to emerge from the solar glare, meaning that you can catch a glimpse of all four giant planets in the morning sky. So thank you very much for taking us through all of that, Paul. And if you at home want to keep up to date with all of the best things to see in the night sky every week, be sure to subscribe to the podcast and we hope to see you here next week.<\/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

Chris Bramley <\/strong>Thank you for listening to this episode of Star Diary, the podcast from the makers of BBC Sky at Night magazine. For more of our podcasts, visit our website at www.skyatnightmagazine.com<\/a> or head to aCast, iTunes or Spotify.<\/p> <\/body><\/html>\n

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