Minnesota Starwatch for June 2007
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Starwatch Newsletter

Minnesota Starwatch is a newsletter describing the night sky in the Midwest.

It is updated monthly, and is produced by the
Department of Astronomy, University of Minnesota
116 Church Street SE, Minneapolis, MN 55455

Minnesota Starwatch for June 2007

Our evening sky the month of June will be dominated by the planet Venus, visible in the western sky beginning at dusk. Early in June, Venus reaches its greatest separation on the sky from the sun, about 45 degrees. As the sun sets it will be a little over 35 degrees above the horizon. Near June 1st Venus will be nearly in a straight line with Saturn and Mercury, with Mercury about 20 degrees above the horizon at sunset and to the north of Venus and with Saturn higher, about 45 degrees high and to the south. Venus is far brighter than either of the other two planets, but the alignment should make the others easier to spot. As June progresses Venus will dip closer to the horizon at dusk so that by month's end it will be only about 25 degrees high as the sun sets. Meanwhile, Saturn's position will approach that of Venus. By month's end both can be captured in the field of a pair of binoculars. Venus should appear about half lit. Saturn will appear smaller and fainter than Venus, despite being physically much larger, because it is currently on the opposite side of the solar system and about 15 times farther from us than Venus. On the evening of June 18th the waxing crescent Moon will lie approximately midway between Venus and Saturn.

The planet Jupiter is almost as bright as Venus and lies low in the sky most of the night during June. It is almost directly opposite the sun right now, so it will be highest in the sky to the south around midnight. Mars is visible low in the east before sunrise this month. On June 10th a waning crescent moon will lie just above Mars.

The summer solstice or the beginning of summer in the northern hemisphere arrives at 1:06 PM CDT on June 21st this year. This is the moment when the sun reaches its most northerly position in the sky. At mid to high northern latitudes we associate this time with long hours of daylight and the approach of our warmest weather. The warm weather is a result of the high elevation of the sun and the longer daylight. It does not reflect our relative distance from the sun. In fact, the sun is closest to Earth in January, not in July. The June solstice signals the beginning of winter south of the equator, so in parts of Southern Africa or South America, for instance, July would generally be the coldest month of the year.

For fun Astronomy Outreach programs check out our Public Outreach link, or if you're interested in how you can help build the new Minnesota Planetarium, please call 612-630-6151 or visit http://www.mplanetarium.org.

The Minnesota Starwatch is produced by the University of Minnesota Astronomy Department.