Title: June Skywatch Highlights
Location: Hawaiian Islands
Date / Time: June 2008
Comments: Three planets adorn our night skies this month. As the sky darkens in early June, Saturn & Mars appear high in the southwestern sky. SATURN sits just east of Regulus, Leo's brightest star, & easily outshines the "heart" of the Lion. On June 7th & 8th, watch for the Moon to pass just south of Regulus & Saturn. Saturn's ring system is beginning to tilt "edge-on" to our view from Earth. In late 2008, & through much of 2009, the rings will disappear from our view. This month, however, the rings are magnificent! You'll need at least a 30x telescope to view them. MARS crosses from Cancer into Leo this month, & will close within 0.7 degrees of Regulus by June 30th. Watch as the Red Planet edges closer towards Regulus & yellowish Saturn, as it moves toward a conjunction with Saturn in July. Brilliant JUPITER, rises in the southeast by 10PM early in the month, and by 8PM at month's end. Jupiter appears among the stars of eastern Sagittarius, near the handle of the "teapot" asterism, and dominates the sky all night long as the brightest object except for the Moon. (VENUS shines brighter but is currently behind the Sun & will not be viewable for another month). MERCURY is passing in front of the Sun for most of June & will reappear in the morning sky during the last few days of the month, hanging to the lower left of Aldebaran, the red eye of Taurus the Bull. Look for the Southern Cross viewable just after sunset, low on the southern horizon. Hawaii is one of the few places where we can see all the way from the North Star, Polaris (Hokupa'a), to the Southern Cross, a Polynesian navigational "star line" called Ka Iwikuamo'o, "The Backbone." The SUN reaches its northernmost declination along the ecliptic on June 20th, the summer solstice. This is when our Sun crosses the celestial equator, from the southern hemisphere into the northern hemisphere, the longest day of the year (greatest number of daylight hours). For further details and a June sky map, visit Bishop Museum Planetarium www.bishopmuseum.org/planetarium (bishopmuseum.org).

Maintained by Roz Reiner - Kauai, Hawaii

 

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