Skywatch Line for Friday, June 28, through Sunday, June 30, written by Sam Salem
This is Dudley Observatory’s Skywatch Line for Friday, June 28, through Sunday, June 30, written by Sam Salem.
On Friday, Sun rises at 5:19am and sets at 8:38pm; Moon rises at 12:30am and sets at 12:48pm.
The last-quarter Moon occurs at 5:53pm on Friday. It’ll rise after midnight and will set around noon. Look for it high in the sky before dawn. Watch for it to come up below the Great Square of Pegasus. Saturn is about two fists at arm’s length to the Moon’s upper right. By the time dawn begins, you can see that the Moon is not quite halfway between Saturn and Mars.
On Sunday, the waning crescent Moon will lie close to the reddish planet Mars. The lit portion of the Moon will point to the reddish planet. Also nearby will be the bright planet Jupiter and the Pleiades star cluster. The Moon and Mars will rise about four hours before sunrise.
Mars, at magnitude 1.0, in the constellation of Aries, lies low in the east just before and during dawn. Look for it four or five fists at arm’s length to the lower left of Saturn.
Jupiter, at magnitude –2.0, in the constellation of Taurus, is much deeper in the glow of dawn, about two fists lower left of Mars.
Saturn, at magnitude 1.1, near the Aquarius-Pisces border, rises around midnight and shines well up in the southeast before and during early dawn. Find the Great Square of Pegasus two fists upper left of it. Fomalhaut sparkling two fists to Saturn’s lower right.
Uranus, at magnitude 5.8, lies between Jupiter and Mars. However, it is still up in the glow of dawn. This makes it difficult to locate the faint planet.
Look at the main stars of the constellation of Lyra, lower right from bright Vega, high in the east forming a small triangle and parallelogram. The two brightest stars of this pattern after Vega are the two forming the bottom of the parallelogram, Beta and Gamma Lyrae, or Sheliak and Sulafat. They’re currently lined up vertically. Beta is the one on top. Beta Lyrae is an eclipsing binary. Compare it to Gamma whenever you look up at Lyra. Normally Beta is only a trace dimmer than Gamma.
After nightfall, look for the Big Dipper hanging straight down in the northwest. Its bottom two stars, the Pointers, point to the right toward modest Polaris, the end of the Little Dipper’s handle. This is the time of year when, at the end of twilight, the Little Dipper floats straight upward from Polaris. Through light pollution or moonlight, however, all you may see of the Little Dipper are Polaris at its bottom and Kochab, the lip of the Little Dipper’s bowl, at the top.