The Celestial Sphere

By Matthew Johnson

The beginning of summer occurs on June 21 at 5:14 a.m. on the day celebrated as the summer solstice. The summer solstice occurs when the Northern Hemisphere of the earth becomes tilted toward the sun to its greatest extent, the North Pole glowing with 24 hours of daylight. On the day of the solstice, the citizens of Norfolk will experience the longest hours of daylight in the year. The sun will rise at 5:07 a.m. and set at 8:25 p.m., providing 15 hours and 18 minutes of daylight. This is 6 hours and 14 minutes more daylight than on the shortest day of the year, Dec. 21, the winter solstice. 

Observing:

A very rare event occurs an hour before dawn in the later days of June. Beginning on June 16 and continuing to month’s end, seven planets—the five planets visible to the naked eye plus Uranus and Neptune—will line up gracing the predawn sky. All will be visible before the brilliance of the rising sun begins to obscure first the fainter planets and then the more distant and luminous ones. For the next two weeks the predawn sky will continue to offer observers and astrophotographers rare opportunities to view and photograph the celestial mechanics of our neighbors in orbit around the sun.

The planets will begin their display just above the eastern horizon an hour before dawn, appearing as almost evenly spaced points of light, aligned as if they had negotiated for spots in their orbits and creating nature’s simplest geometric element, the line. This line of planets rises from the horizon at an angle of some 30 degrees or so upward and away toward the south. An hour and a half before the sun rises, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn can be identified without optical aid, while it will require binoculars or a small telescope to locate and view the gas giants Uranus and Neptune. Despite their size, they are difficult to see because of their enormous distance from the earth and sun.

To observe this event, step out an hour before sunrise and look to the east. An interesting aspect of the placement of the five great planets is that they appear in their correct order from the sun. Starting from the far lower left along the horizon look for Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn. Notice that the crescent moon will visit each planet as the days continue. The moon will be below Saturn on the 18th, below Jupiter on the 21st, just to the right of Mars on the 22nd, just above Venus on the 26th and above Mercury on the 27th. The best time to view Uranus is on the 24th. Uranus will stand east of the moon about an inch away, and Neptune can be found with optics to the west and around an inch and a half above Jupiter

Moon phases:

First quarter: June 7
Full moon: June 14
Last quarter: June 20
New moon: June 28

The full moon on the 14th will rise after midnight. This month the moon will display unusual behaviors that will perplex most viewers. It will not climb high into the sky, as is expected of a full moon, but will remain very low for the entire night. The slanted path of its light rays in the earth’s atmosphere will scatter the bluer rays, leaving a yellow-to-golden hue that is responsible for the June full moon being termed the Honey Moon. It is also called the Strawberry Moon, after the berries that ripen in June.