Venus will continue to dominate the western evening sky during the month of June. Venus will continue to dominate the western evening sky, (Image credit: Chris Vaughan/Starry Night) Likewise, tropical skywatchers can look for the 3%-illuminated waning crescent moon positioned 5 degrees to the northwest of Mercury on June 16.
The trio will share the view in binoculars, but those much fainter objects will be difficult to see unless you are in the tropics. Mercury will travel between magnitude 5.84 Uranus and the 8th magnitude minor planet Vesta on the mornings surrounding June 5. At the same time, its apparent disc size will shrink from 7.7 to 5 arc seconds. Viewed in a telescope (but only before the sun rises, please), Mercury will exhibit a waxing phase that grows from 44.4% to fully illuminated at month-end. Mercury will brighten throughout June - from magnitude 0.2 on June 1 to -0.9 around the date we lose sight of it. Mercury's eastward prograde motion will carry it from eastern Aries into Taurus on June 7 and then into Gemini on June 26. It will slide horizontally to the left each morning during the first three weeks of the month, and then it will disappear into the twilight as it drops sunward by month's end.įor observers in the tropics and farther south, the vertical morning ecliptic will allow Mercury to rise in a dark sky well before the sun - but it will still sink into the morning twilight in late June.
(Image credit: Chris Vaughan/Starry Night)įor Northern Hemisphere observers, Mercury will spend most of June shining a few degrees above the east-northeastern horizon before sunrise. Mercury will spend most of June shining a few degrees above the east-northeastern horizon before sunrise. Friday, June 30: Venus moves closest to Mars (evening) Use high magnification to look around Copernicus for small craters with bright floors and black haloes - impacts through Copernicus' white ejecta that excavated dark Oceanus Procellarum basalt and even deeper highlands anorthosite.
#Moom tonight full
Around the full moon, Copernicus' ray system, extending 500 miles (800 km) in all directions, becomes prominent. Starting several nights before the moon reaches its full phase, Copernicus exhibits heavily terraced edges (due to slumping), an extensive ejecta blanket outside the crater's rim, a complex central peak, and both smooth and rough terrain on the crater's floor. This 800 million-year-old impact scar is visible with unaided eyes and binoculars - but telescope views will reveal many more interesting aspects of lunar geology. The prominent crater Copernicus is located in eastern Oceanus Procellarum - due south of Mare Imbrium and slightly northwest of the moon's center. Sunday, June 4: Mercury passes Uranus (pre-dawn)Ĭrater Copernicus (Image credit: Chris Vaughan/Starry Night) Since sunlight is hitting the moon face-on at that time, no shadows are cast - all of the variations in brightness you see arise from differences in the reflectivity, or albedo, of the lunar surface rocks. The moon is only completely full when it is opposite the sun in the sky, so full moons always rise in the east as the sun is setting, and set in the west at sunrise. The Cherokee call it Tihaluhiyi, the Green Corn Moon, when crops are growing. The Mohawks call it Ohiarí:Ha, the Fruits are Small Moon. For the Cree Nation it's Opiniyawiwipisim, the Egg Laying Moon (referring to the activities of wild water-fowl). The indigenous Ojibwe people of the Great Lakes region call this moon Ode'miin Giizis, the Strawberry Moon. The June full moon, colloquially known as the Strawberry Moon, Mead Moon, Rose Moon, Birthing Moon, or Hot Moon, always shines in or near the stars of Sagittarius, the Archer. The moon will officially reach its full phase at 03:42 GMT on Sunday, June 3, which converts to 11:42 p.m. Full Strawberry Moon (Image credit: Chris Vaughan/Starry Night)
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