Astrophiz 215: Dr Ian Musgrave’s June SkyGuide
Listen: https://soundcloud.com/astrophiz/astrophiz215juneskyguide

Summary: 

Mars close to thin crescent moon.
Occultation of Antares behind the moon in the early evening sky.
The moon comes close to some of the bright planets.
… and Mars is close to the moon again at the end of the month.

Moon Phases:
June 3 ~ 1st Quarter Moon, and another time to catch the ‘Lunar X’ late in the night, about 11pm for Australian Eastern states. 10:30 for central states and 9pm in the West.
Lunar X Tip: take an image each 1/2 hour from moonrise.
June 7 ~ Apogee, furthest from earth
June 11 ~ Full Moon
June 19 ~ Last Quarter Moon ~ ideal for stargazing
June 23 ~ Perigee, closest to earth
June 25 ~ New Moon ~ ideal for stargazing
June 21 ~ Solstice: shortest day in Southern Hemisphere. longest day in Northern Hemisphere

Evening Skies:

Jupiter is lost into the twilight

Mercury returns to evening skies mid-month, on the 27th it’s 3°from the moon an hour after sunset, and will continue to be excellent until mid-July.

Mars is low in the NW evening skies, and is still readily visible

T Coronae Borealis is visible in late evening skies and still has not ‘Gone Nova’ so the challenge is still … to capture a Nova before and after it blows! This Nova iswell  ‘overdue’ so all eyes are on it!

Tuesday 10 June ~ The Occultation of Antares by the Moon is easily seen in binoculars and telescopes (for times, check Ian’s Astroblogger website)

Also June is a great opportunity to see The Dark Emu in the south, the Southern Cross and the magnificent globular cluster Omega Centauri is also at it’s highest in the south.

Morning Skies: 

Venus is furthest from the sun on 1 June, and is a half-moon shape in telescopes, and beside the crescent moon on 22 June
Saturn is climbing higher in the morning sky, 
Scorpius is a feature in the dark morning sky in the east
Sagittarius and the Heart of the Milky Way are also rising, a good opportunity to catch the Triffid and Lagoon nebulas in Sagittarius.

Ian’s ’Tangent’

Ian discusses long-lived aspects of Indigenous astronomy like The Eagle, Stingray and Dark Emu, and how Western constellation names have changed over time. eg Argo was declared obsolete in 1930.

Ian’s Astrophotography Challenges:

Capture The Occultation of Antares on June 10th (almost full moon), and then on a dark night with no moon, have a go at imaging The Dark Emu, with your mobile phone/DSLR/camera, conveniently at 8pm in the south near Scorpius, the Pointers and the Southern Cross.

Tips: 

1. Use your device’s highest ISO (ASA)
2. Under urban skies, take 10 x1second exposures, and stack them using a free stacking program or app.
3. Under dark skies, you can take longer exposures
4. If stacking in RAW, do a ‘dark frame’ subtraction
5. If stacking in JPEG, don’t use dark frame subtraction.

Next Month: Episode #216 is our 10 year anniversary of Astrophiz.

And in two weeks we have our special 10 year anniversary episode where we look at the most significant breakthroughs in the last 10 years as well as how light pollution is impacting on our precious dark skies.