Dining & Nightlife | Astronomy

The first live, international, satellite TV broadcast took place on June 25th, 1967. It was called Our World, was seen by an estimated 400 million people and was the broadcast on which the Beatles first aired their song, “All You Need Is Love.” Four years earlier, on June 16, 1963, Valentina Tereshkova became the first woman to fly into space. Carolyn Shoemaker discovered her 14th comet in June of 1988, making her the most successful comet hunter alive at the time. Finally, sometime in June this year, the Japanese asteroid probe Hayabusa will collide with Earth after jettisoning rock samples collected from the asteroid Itokawa. The idea was to use the craft, not only to deliver the samples (via a parachute and capsule), but to simulate an asteroid impact; the collision will help Japanese scientists improve the mathematical models used to determine an asteroid’s trajectory and probable location of impact.

Summer will be here on the June 21, the day of the Solstice. This day is the longest of the year and the day on which the Sun reaches its highest point in the sky.

During the month on June, Venus will be one of the brightest objects in the early evening skies. Look to the west just after sunset. Along with Venus, Mars will be visible during the early evening hours. To the naked eye, Mars appears to be a bright orange star; look for it slightly above and to the left of Venus. Saturn and Uranus are also planets to examine this June; however, these planets are best seen through telescopes, so why not visit the Custer Institute one fine Saturday evening? Even Pluto, the “no-longer-a-planet planet,” will be putting on a show. With the aid of some imaging gear, one can actually watch this planet move against a backdrop of distant stars! This June, the new Moon falls on the 12th, and the full Moon on the 26th of June.

The June Lyrids fall between the 14th and 16th of June. This is a slow shower, with only about 10 meteors every hour, but, thanks to the almost new Moon, the skies will be dark and viewing conditions good. Look for blue and white meteors originating in the constellation Lyra. The June Lyrids were discovered on the evening of June 15, 1966, by S. Dvorak while camping in the San Benardino Mountains.

This June even offers a partial lunar eclipse for those in Asia and on the West coast; however, the eclipse will not be visible from our region.