June stargazing

The night sky is full of mystery.  One gets a near-overwhelming sense of awe when one studies the heavens.  It is the tragedy of our planet that this mysterious space was filled with the idea of a patriarchal "God".  We're still trying to outlive that notion.

SkyTips: June 2013

» June Stargazing
» June Radio Programs
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Stellar Pinwheel
The Pinwheel galaxy spins across the sky in this Hubble Space Telescope image. It is about 22 million light-years away, in Ursa Major. Its striking spiral arms are outlined by hot young stars, some of which will explode as supernovae at the end of their short lives. [ESA/NASA]

June offers warm nights for watching the sky, but a limited amount of time to enjoy the view, with the longest days and shortest nights of the year. Even so, there's plenty to look at, with Leo diving toward the western horizon at nightfall and the Summer Triangle climbing into view in the eastern sky. It crowns the sky in the wee hours of the morning, with its brightest star, Vega, passing directly overhead. Vega is the second-brightest star visible from mid-northern latitudes on summer evenings, only a few percent behind yellow-orange Arcturus, which is high in the south at nightfall.

More stargazing information »

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June 3-9: Sunny skies. With summer just a couple of weeks away, we'll talk about the object that we'll be seeing a lot of here in the northern hemisphere: the Sun. We'll also tell you about some special telescopes for studying the Sun.

June 10-16: Summer star. One of the brightest stars of the summer night sky is Vega. It's a stellar youngster, but it's old enough to have planets. We'll talk about this bright summer beacon, plus a skywatching logjam in the early evening sky.

June 17-23: Moon meanderings. The Moon passes two bright stars and an even brighter planet this week, and we'll have details. We'll also talk about the changing seasons here on Earth and on one of the moons of Saturn. Join us for this and more.

June 24-30: Super-model. Scientists have developed a model that describes the workings of almost everything. We'll tell you what the model is, what it explains, and what it can't explain. Join us for the Standard Model and more.

June program schedule »

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In the July/August issue, learn how astronomers continue to find nearby stars in 'Mister Sol's Neighborhood.' And Melissa Gaskill returns to StarDate with a feature on how amateur astronomers are contributing to the pros' research in 'Helping Eyes.'

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Mirror Coating Smooths the Way for HET UpgradeThe pace of HETDEX work is quickening, with several key milestones coming up in the next few months, all leading to the first science operations in early 2014. Stay up to date on the project on the HETDEX website. 

Shapiro Elected to Chair APS Division of Astrophysics
Paul R. Shapiro, the Frank N. Edmonds, Jr., Regents Professor in Astronomy at The University of Texas at Austin, has been elected to a four-year term to the Chair line of the Division of Astrophysics of the American Physical Society (APS). The astrophysics division of APS represents more than 2,400 scientists working in many fields of astrophysics and cosmology.

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SkyTips is a monthly email newsletter for visitors to McDonald Observatory and StarDate Online. Each issue features stargazing highlights, upcoming StarDate radio program descriptions, and other news. Please feel free to forward this newsletter to your friends and family.

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