2017 Week 25: (June 18-24)

This upcoming week marks the first day of Summer as discussed in the previous post about the solstice.  In the early morning sky before sunrise you will be able to catch Venus shining above everything in the sky except for the Moon.  Venus and the Moon will fit into the same binocular field this upcoming Tuesday so be sure to check it out.

Date	Event
June 20	Venus 2°N of Moon
June 20	Solstice
June 24	Super New Moon

10:24pm on the evening of Tuesday, June 20 will mark the beginning of Summer as the Sun will be observed to start decreasing in declination.  An interesting event happens next Saturday.  There will be a supermoon.  It is not advertised throughout the media because it is a New Moon supermoon.  You will not see a majestic bright rock in the sky, in fact you will not see anything.  However, since the Moon is at perigee (closest position to Earth in its elliptical orbit) at a New Moon the tides will likely be larger than normal.

There are other great sights to amaze you in the sky.  Jupiter can be seen in the south/southeast sky when it gets dark.  Saturn will be seen in the southwest sky and continue to shine throughout most of the Summer.  The great constellation of Hercules will be practically above our heads as it approaches midnight.  With binoculars or a telescope be sure to check out M13, the great globular cluster of Hercules.

M13

The unfortunate part of Summer is that it gets dark very late.  It seems as though twilight rules throughout the night.  As we get deeper into July our dark sky will start coming back and there will be ample opportunity to observe the Summer constellations.

In July and August there will be several evenings of open houses at the Rothney Astrophysical Observatory dedicated to observing the Milky Way.  Keep your eyes posted for more information as the time approaches!