2019 Week 25: (June 16-June 22)

This week in the sky there will be several conjunctions among Solar System objects and the Summer Solstice.

Date	Event
June 16	Jupiter 2.0°S of Moon
June 17	Full Moon
June 18	Mercury 0.2°N of Mars
June 18	Saturn 0.4°N of Moon
June 21	Solstice
June 21	Neptune Stationary

On Sunday evening catch a glimpse of the southeastern sky as the Moon and Jupiter will pair up nicely.  If you look through binoculars or a telescope you may be able to see five Moons: our Moon and the 4 Galilean Moons of Jupiter.

Mercury continues to separate itself from the Sun in the western sky at dusk.  It stays above the horizon for nearly an hour and a half after sunset and should be visible to most observers with the naked eye.  It is 4 times brighter than Mars which will appear alongside our smallest planet.  Snag some binoculars and see both of them in your field of view.

Mars/Mercury Conjunction

Once you are done observing the conjunction of Mercury and Mars swing over to the southeastern sky around midnight to catch the Moon and Saturn extremely close to each other.  They will certainly fit in a tight telescopic field and may make a great photograph for those skilled to handle the great brightness differential.

On June 21 at 9:54 MDT in the morning it will be the Summer Solstice.  The first hours of Summer.  A link for more information about it can be found below:

https://simonjastronomy.blogspot.com/2017/06/what-is-solstice.html

The Summer Solstice is a double edged sword for astronomers.  We will have the minimum of darkness for observing but every evening from now will give us more and more until December!

The very same evening Neptune will be stationary in the sky and will begin its retrograde motion.  The planet will appear to move westward compared to the background stars.  It has moved nearly 7° since I first observed it back in 2016.  It is slated to move into Pisces in 2022.

There are two rocket launches scheduled for this week.  An Ariane 5 rocket will be launching a bunch of communication satellites into orbit from French Guiana.  Following the next day a Russian Proton rocket will send a join Russian/German X-ray observatory.  This is quite exciting as it will conduct an all-sky survey in the X-ray band of the electromagnetic field.  Will it shine some light on dark matter?  Stay tuned.

Date	Event
June 20	Ariane 5 - AT&T T-16 & Eutelsat 7C
June 21	Proton - Spektr-RG

There are no public events planned for this week as most astronomy events are non-existent around the solstice.  However, starting the first week of July there will be a Summer long set of programs held at the Calgary Public Library.  We will be in each branch teaching youth and families all about astronomy!  Details can be found below!

https://events.calgarylibrary.ca/programs/online-registration?id=7902|1

We hope to see you out at one of these great events!  Bring friends and see the Sun through a telescope like you have never seen it before!