June meteor shower and other astronomical events of the first month of summer. June meteor shower and other astronomical events of the first month of summer Observation of planets in June

The sky in the coming year will, as before, delight and delight us with the most interesting astronomical phenomena: there will be celestial performances, and coverings of some luminaries by others, and unusual comets will appear, and mysterious meteorites will fly by, other events will happen, including those which are impossible to predict.

But what you won’t be able to observe this year, unfortunately, is eclipses: the first pair of them will pass on February 11 (penumbral lunar, in the Southern Hemisphere) and February 26 (solar, in the Pacific and Atlantic oceans), the second pair - as usual, in 177-178 days - on August 7, the lunar and solar August 21 will also be visible outside of Russia.

Where and how can you observe the planets

MERCURY is best observed in the predawn sky in May - June (in Aries - Taurus) and in September (in Leo), when its brightness will reach a record minus the first magnitude. During the rest of the year, it will appear low on the horizon, and observations will be quite problematic.

Mercury is full of mysteries, especially in motion. Suffice it to say that, having made two revolutions around the Sun (i.e., in two of its years - 176 of our days), it will turn exactly three times around its axis. Moreover, his day lasts exactly the same. What would it be like for us if the night on Earth lasted 365 days? And the same day? Moreover, if at the same time the heat was at +450 degrees during the day, and at night - super frost minus 180 degrees! These are the "hellish" conditions on Mercury. Here it must be said that the Almighty did not in vain reward him with such long days: 88 of our days are day, 88 days are night. With our days (24 hours), it would not have lasted close to the Sun even for a year - it would have collapsed from cyclic thermal deformations.

And further. It is almost magically connected with our Earth and with its neighbor Venus: the synodic period of Mercury (the time during which it overtakes the Earth by one revolution - 176 days) is exactly equal to the days on Venus (!) And is exactly equal to two revolutions around its axis , and this one revolution is 10 times less than the synodic period of Venus (586.7: 58.67 = 10)! That's where the miracles are! Real! Not horoscopes.

VENUS - the planet is perfectly visible all year, except for the second half of March, when it will pass between the Sun and the Earth (on March 25 it is in inferior conjunction) and then will show off in the morning sky with the brightest star (up to minus 4.6 magnitude), visiting all constellations from Pisces to Sagittarius in December.

Recently, Venus surprised us by showing for the first time a strange slanting smile, a bright arc in its atmosphere almost from pole to pole. What does this focus mean? Astrophysicists are still thinking about this.

The planet's atmosphere is unique in the solar system. Firstly, it consists of 96% carbon dioxide with drops of hydrochloric, sulfuric and hydrofluoric acids, i.e. terribly aggressive; secondly, it rotates frantically around the planet - 60 times faster than the surface! Every second, 10,000 lightning strikes in it, which is 100 times more than on Earth. Due to the greenhouse effect, the rocky surface heats up to 500 degrees! And this is at a pressure of 95 atmospheres. A living hell!

MARS is acting up this year. In February - May, it appears in the evenings in Pisces, Aries and Taurus, and then in the predawn sky in Leo, Virgo and Libra, but its disk will be very tiny, no more than 6 arc seconds - not every amateur will see something.

But on September 12, it will be possible to contemplate a real celestial performance: in the morning of this day, Mars and Mercury will converge in the sky! Only 6 minutes of arc will separate them - at one moment they will simply touch each other, as it were. Rare sight!

JUPITER sparkles in Virgo, with a brilliance of about minus 2.2 magnitude. It is best to watch it all night in the first half of the year. On September 7, it will be in conjunction with the Sun and then move into morning visibility.

SATURN will be well observed in Ophiuchus (brightness 0.5 magnitude) all year round, except for the last week of December. His rings are open and visible in full glory. By the way, these days the American Cassini spacecraft periodically dives into them, investigating the composition and structure of the rings.

By the way, Saturn and Jupiter are also connected by their resonance: when the first makes two revolutions around the Sun, the second - exactly five!

URANUS (in Pisces) and NEPTUNE (in Aquarius) are available for observation only to owners of solid telescopes, since the magnitude of their brightness is about 5.5 and 7.8 magnitudes, respectively.

planetary conjunctions

In addition to the aforementioned performance of Mars and Mercury, very close (about one degree) Jupiter will converge in the sky with Mercury on October 18, with Venus on November 13: the two brightest planets are a fantastic sight!

Coatings

This year, the Moon will cover Mercury twice - on July 25 and September 19, and on September 18 both Venus and Mars in one morning (in Leo).

Jupiter, Saturn and Uranus will have to wait 3-5 years for occultations.

Comets

Of the 60 shaggy stars flying up to the Sun this year, comets will be best seen, even with binoculars:

Enke in the spring will pass over the stars Gamma, Iota, Omega of the constellation Pisces and then turn sharply to the south. The comet is not only unusual, but even strange: not only is it the fastest - it takes only 40 months to fly around the Sun (a record!), It also moves in an incomprehensible way - in jolts, neglecting all the laws of celestial mechanics. Perhaps she bumps into her own tail?

Johnson in March - June will fly through the constellations Hercules, Bootes and Virgo.

Panstars will peak at magnitude 10 in May.

Giacobini-Cresaka on April 13 will pass 22 million km from Earth. Her path runs along the Big Dipper and the Dragon.

Of the meteor showers, the most impressive will be the Perseids - August 13 (Perseus) and the Leonids (Leo) - November 17.

Clear skies and happy observations!

Alexander LESOVOY, methodologist, head of the astronomical circle of the Palace of Children's and Youth Creativity

Mercury is passing 5 degrees south of the Pleiades this week, and Ceres will be in conjunction with the Sun. On June 7, the Moon will cover the star Gamma Libra (3.9m) with the maximum southern libration of the night star. On June 7 and 11, the trio of Jupiter's satellites will pass the closest approach to the planet. On June 8, the Moon (Ф = 0.99+) will reach the apogee of the orbit at a distance of 406402 km from the center of the Earth, and then in the full moon phase it will pass near Antares and Saturn, on June 9 - the long-period variable stars R Andromeda and T Ursa Major will reach their maximum brightness (about 6m). On June 10, Jupiter will pass the standing point with the transition to direct motion. On June 11, the long-period variable star T Cephei will reach its maximum brightness (5m), and the Moon (Ф = 0.98-) will reach its maximum declination to the south. In addition, several comets are available to amateur telescopes throughout the week (it should be taken into account that the Moon is near the full moon), and it is also possible to observe noctilucent clouds that appear against the background of the morning and evening twilight segment. Comet C/2015 ER61 (PanSTARRS) at the end of the week will approach Uranus, the star Pisces and the galaxy M74 (to the right of Venus).

From the planets solar system: Mercury, Venus and Uranus can be found in the morning twilight in the southern latitudes of the country (Venus and in the middle latitudes). Mars is observed in the evenings. Jupiter is visible in the evening and at night, while Saturn and Neptune can be found in the night and morning sky. Detailed ephemerides of the planets are given in the printed version.

Information about the phenomena of the past and future - in.

Review articles on the planets and small bodies of the solar system - .

Date a(2000.0) d(2000.0) r delta m elon. V PA con. Церера (1) 6 Jun 2017 4h56m20.63s +21.94264 deg 2.710 3.724 8.4 0.7 63.50 79.7 Tau 11 Jun 2017 5h05m18.31s +22.30405 deg 2.706 3.719 8.5 2.7 63.58 80.6 Tau Веста (4) 6 Jun 2017 9h02m38.61s +21.66656 deg 2.387 2.788 8.1 56.7 59.25 106.5 Cnc 11 Jun 2017 9h10m49.33s +21.09504 deg 2.382 2.834 8.2 53.9 60.63 107.0 Cnc Геба (6) 6 Jun 2017 17h54m56.98s - 3.59465 deg 2.553 1.592 9.3 156.2 34.16 269.1 Oph 11 Jun 2017 17h50m19.81s - 3.65136 deg 2.543 1.569 9.2 159.0 36.62 265.4 Oph Гигея (10) 6 Jun 2017 18h53m28.29s -23.90389 deg 2.846 1.904 9.7 153.0 21.92 271.6 Sgr 11 Jun 2017 18h50m08.21s -23.87944 deg 2.849 1.880 9.6 158.6 25.06 271.5 Sgr Гаромония (40) 6 Jun 2017 18H26M04.58S -22.36117 DEG 2.275 1.298 10.0 159.2 31.32 258.0 SGR 11 Jun 2017 18H21M30.94S -22.57836 Deg 2.273 1.277 9.8 165.1 35.0 SGR A Direct climb for the era 2000.0.0.0. 2000. 2000.20, r - rpm ( a.u.), delta - distance from Earth (a.u.), m - magnitude, elon. - elongation, V - angular velocity (seconds per hour), RA - position angle of the direction of movement of the celestial body, сon. - constellation

Selected astronomical phenomena of the week.

Time for events is given in Moscow = UT + 3 hours (universal time UT is indicated separately). On the website of Sergey Guryanov, you can use the web version of the AK for 2017 with general overview the starry sky and the phenomena of the month of June. Information from other phenomena is available in,

June will delight us with the longest daylight hours of the year on the day of the summer solstice on June 21, as well as the appearance of silvery clouds in the twilight sky and the onset of the long-awaited white nights and polar day in the subpolar latitudes of the Northern Hemisphere!

On June 15, 2017, Saturn will come into opposition with the Sun. best time for observations of a ringed giant planet. June 30 - International Asteroid Day, on this day 109 years ago, the Tunguska meteorite fell to Earth.

Selected events of June 2017 in astronomy and astronautics

June 1 - Moon in the phase of the first quarter 15:43
June 2 -51 years ago, in 1966, four months later than the Soviet automatic station "Luna-9", the American station "Surveyor-1" made a soft landing on the surface of the Moon and transmitted to Earth detailed television images of the lunar surface.
June 3 - Venus at greatest western (morning) elongation: 45.9 ° - morning

June 4 - 15 years ago, the dwarf planet 50,000 Quaoar was discovered
June 4 - Comet C/2015 V2 (Johnson) passes at a distance of 0.82 AU. from the earth. At this moment, its brilliance can be + 6-7 stars. led.
June 6 - 256 years ago, the atmosphere of Venus was discovered. On June 6, 1761, the brilliant Russian scientist M.V. Lomonosov observed the passage of Venus in front of the solar disk and discovered its atmosphere
June 7 - the beginning of the morning visibility of Uranus
June 7 - 61 years ago our dogs Kozyavka and Albina flew into space

June 8 - World Oceans Day (WorldOceansDay)
June 8 - 392 years since the birth of the Italian astronomer Giovanni Cassini. Cassini was the first to be able to determine the period of rotation of the planet Jupiter and gave an explanation for the system of bands on it.

June 9 – Full Moon 16:11
June 9 - 205 years since the birth of I.G. Galle (JohannGottfiedGalle)


June 11 - 32 years ago, the Vega-1 Automatic Interplanetary Station reached the vicinity of Venus.
June 12 - 50 years ago, the Venera-4 station was launched, which descended on the planet Venus on October 18. As a result of research conducted by the station, it was found that there are no magnetic field and radiation belts, the composition of the atmosphere was also determined.
June 13 - 186 years since the birth of the English physicist, creator of classical electrodynamics, James Maxwell
June 13 - 61 years ago the dogs Kozyavka and Albina flew into space for the second time
June 14 - 281 years since the birth of the French physicist and military engineer, whose name is given to the unit of electric charge and the law of interaction of electric charges, Charles Augustin de Coulomb
June 14 - 128 years since the birth of the famous Swedish astronomer K. E. Lundmark. In 1919, he was the first in the world to determine the distance to the Andromeda Nebula and established in 1928 the existence of the Local Group of Galaxies, which includes several star systems, including the Andromeda Nebula (M31) and our Galaxy. He was one of the first to make observations that confirmed the rotation of the Galaxy, and suggested that the Sun and nearby stars revolve around its center.



June 16 - 54 years ago Valentina Tereshkova on spaceship"Vostok-6" flew into space. She became the sixth Soviet cosmonaut
June 16 - 126 years since the birth of the Soviet astronomer Vladimir Alexandrovich Albitsky
June 19 - 2257 years ago, the Greek scientist Eratosthenes of Cyrene for the first time in the world calculated the radius of the Earth





June 22 - 41 years ago, the Salyut-5 space station was launched in the USSR
June 23 - Moon at perigee distance to Earth 357937 km 13:50
June 23 - 162 years since the birth of the Russian and Soviet astronomer Lydia Petrovna Tseraskaya (discovered 219 variable stars)
June 24 - New Moon 05:33
June 26 - 11 years ago, the satellites of Saturn "Surtur", "Jarnsaxa", "Greip" and "Loge" were discovered
June 27 - The June Bootids meteor shower from the constellation Bootes reaches its maximum action (from 1 to 100 or more meteors per hour)
June 28 - The moon passes 0.7 ° south of Regula 03:00
June 28 - Pluto's moon Kerberos was discovered 11 years ago
June 29 - 117 years ago was born French writer and aviator Antoine de Saint-Exupery
June 30 - 45 years ago, astronomers first introduced "coordinating/leap seconds" into practice
June 30 is International Asteroid Day. 109 years ago, the Tunguska meteorite fell to Earth.

June starry sky

In June, a period of bright nights begins in mid-latitudes: the Sun does not sink deep enough below the horizon, and there is scattered light in the atmosphere. sunlight, which worsens the conditions for observing faint nebulous objects in space. We find Ursa Major to the left of the North Star, high, in the northwestern segment of the sky. The Milky Way arcs from north to south above the eastern horizon. At the zenith, the Dragon's Head is visible. From the easily recognizable sky patterns in May, you will find that the trapezium of Leo is already leaning west at night, and the constellations Cygnus, Lyra and Eagle "summer triangle" rise high above the southeastern horizon after midnight.

The constellation Cygnus is characterized by a cross, the top of which is marked by white Deneb - on old star maps we see Cygnus flying down to Earth. The Greeks believed that in this image, the almighty Zeus, hiding from the jealousy of Hera, flies on a date with Leda, the future mother of Castor and Pollux.

Above north side The Charioteer is visible on the horizon, and Perseus is to his right. In the east, Pegasus ascended, to the left of which, in the northeast side, is Andromeda, Cassiopeia, Cepheus. In the northwest - Ursa Major, below it - Hounds Dogs.

In the southern side of the sky, Sagittarius, Ophiuchus rises above the horizon, to the left of it the Eagle, Dolphin, the constellations Cygnus, Lyra and Hercules are located high. In the southwestern part of the sky, the Northern Crown and Bootes are visible.

June meteor shower in the constellation Bootes.

On June 27, the June Bootids meteor shower from the constellation Bootes reaches its maximum action, according to IMO (International Meteor Organization) forecasts, from 1 to 100 meteors per hour are expected. The June Bootids are a meteor shower observed each year between June 22 and July 2, with peak activity on June 27. The Earth during this period passes through the orbit of the short-period comet 7P/Pons-Winnecke*. Small particles of cometary matter, rushing to the surface of the Earth, burn up in the atmosphere, giving observers the phenomenon of meteors, or meteor showers.

*Comet 7P/Pons-Winnecke (7P/Pons-Winnecke) was discovered by Jean-Louis Pons (Marseille) on June 12, 1819, and then rediscovered on March 9, 1858 by Friedrich August Theodor Winnecke in Bonn. The comet is the ancestor of the June Bootids meteor shower, which is also sometimes called the Pons-Winnecids. Comet Pons-Winnecke's nucleus is about 2.6 km in size. Comet Pons-Winnecke has an orbital period of 6.37 years.

The constellation Bootes from the Atlas "Urania's Mirror" (London, 1825)

The name of the Bootis stream comes from Latin name constellation Boötes (Botes), in which its radiant is located. First observed in May - June 1916. Active in 1916, 1921 and 1927. After 1927 the stream became meteor poor. Most often, the activity of the June Bootids is very low - 1-2 meteors per hour. But sometimes there are bursts of activity. Such a surge, in fact, led in 1916 to the discovery of this meteor shower. The last strong burst of activity of the June Bootids took place in 1998. Then in an hour you could see about 100 meteors of the stream.

Observation of noctilucent clouds

The first summer month unfavorable for observations in the middle, and especially in the northern latitudes of the country. Under conditions of white nights or a polar day, only the brightest objects in the sky can be observed. These are the Sun and the Moon, and sometimes Venus. But for those regions where navigational twilight sets in and astronomical twilight does not stop, an excellent opportunity opens up for detecting and observing noctilucent clouds. They can appear throughout the summer period, and they are most likely to be seen at the end of June.

Sun

The sun moves in the constellation of Taurus until June 21, and then moves into the constellation of Gemini and remains in it until the end of the month. The declination of the daylight gradually increases, as does the length of the day, which increases from 17 hours 11 minutes at the beginning of the month to 17 hours 32 minutes on the day of the solstice. The sun on this day, as it were, freezes (stops) at the top point of maximum declination (23.5 degrees), which is why they call this day the solstice, and then begins to sink to the south, daylight hours begin to decrease.

The given data on the length of the day are valid for the latitude of Moscow, where the midday height of the Sun during the month is about 57 degrees.

At latitude Petersburg white nights are coming north of latitude 66 polar day begins. Sufficiently favorable conditions for observing the starry sky remain only in southern regions countries. For middle latitudes, the deep starry sky will open only by the end of July.

AT Murmansk, at a latitude of 68 ° 58, the polar day lasts 2 months - from May 22 to July 22. This is the period when the Sun does not sink below the horizon at all.

Murmansk, polar day.

June is the most favorable period of the year for observing the Sun. Observations of spots and other formations on the surface of the daylight can be carried out with a telescope or binoculars, and even with the naked eye (if the spots are large enough). But we must remember that the visual study of the Sun through a telescope or other optical instruments must be carried out necessarily (!!!) using an aperture solar filter.

space weather

Forecast magnetic storms June 2017

Moon

Moon visibility in June 2017:

1 - 2 - in the evening
3 - 14 - at night
15 - 18 - after midnight
19 - 21 - in the morning
26 - 30 - in the evening

Planetary visibility in June 2017:

At night:
–Jupiter in the constellation Virgo;
– Saturn (!) in the constellation Ophiuchus;
– Neptune in the constellation Aquarius;

In the morning:
– Venus until June 9 in the constellation Pisces, from 10-28 in the constellation Aries, from 29 to 30 in the constellation Taurus;
– Mercury until June 15 in the constellation Taurus;
– Uranus (!!!) in the constellation Pisces

On June 15, 2017 at 13:00 Moscow time, the ringed giant Saturn will enter into opposition with the Sun. The distance from Earth to Saturn will be 9.01 AU. (1.35 billion km). This means that the angular dimensions of the planet in the sky will be the largest in the year, it will be possible to see Saturn in more detail than in other months of the year. The apparent diameter of the planet's disk will be 18 arc seconds, but the planet is surrounded by a ring, which is already observed at a magnification of 20 times.

Oppositions of this planet are repeated every 378 days. By the way, by 2016, the rings of Saturn opened to the maximum angle, when it is best seen North Pole planet, now the reverse process has begun - the opening angle of the rings will decrease until 2024.

Saturn moves backward through the constellation of Ophiuchus, reaching opposition on June 15th. From May to August is the most favorable period for observing Saturn in 2017. Saturn is visible all night in the constellation Ophiuchus during these months. Its pale yellowish brilliance reaches a maximum magnitude of +0.2m by the date of the opposition. But in general, the conditions for the visibility of the planet this year remain unfavorable, since at the climax Saturn rises in the middle latitudes no higher than 10-12 ° above the horizon. The ringed planet can be observed all night above the southern horizon with a visibility duration of about five hours. With a small telescope, you can observe the ring and moon Titan, as well as some of the other brightest moons.

Observations of the Moon and planets in June 2017

June 1 - Moon in the phase of the first quarter 15:43
June 3 - Venus at greatest western (morning) elongation: 45.9 ° - morning
June 4 - Moon passes 2° north of Jupiter 05:00
June 5 - Moon passes 6° north of Spica 02:00
June 7 - the beginning of the morning visibility of Uranus
June 7 - Mercury at 5 ° south of the Pleiades - 09:00
June 8 - The moon passes 9 ° north of Antares 22:00
June 9 - Moon at apogee - distance to Earth 406401 km 01:22
June 9 – Full Moon 16:11
June 10 - Moon passes 3° north of Saturn 04:00
June 10 - Jupiter moves from retrograde to direct 07:00
June 15 - Saturn in opposition to the Sun, the brightness of the planet will reach 0.1 magnitude 13:00
June 17 - Moon in last quarter phase 14:35
June 17 - Neptune moves from direct to backward movement 03:00
June 19 - Mercury at perihelion
June 19 - Moon passes 4° south of Uranus 21:00
June 21 - Summer Solstice 07:25
June 21 - Mercury in superior conjunction with the Sun 17:00
June 21 - Moon passes 2° south of Venus 01:00
June 22 - The moon passes 0.4 ° south of Aldebaran 18:00
June 24 - New Moon 05:33
June 26 - The moon passes 3.5 ° south of the star cluster Nursery 14:00
June 28 - The moon passes 0.7 ° south of Regula 03:00

WHAT CAN YOU SEE WITH A TELESCOPE IN JUNE?

Telescope holders will be able to observe in the sky:

double stars: Swan, and Lyra, Scorpio, B. Ursa, Hounds Dogs;
variable stars: Cepheus, Lyra, Eagle;

open star clusters: M24 in the constellation Sagittarius, M11 in the constellation Scutum, M39 in the constellation Cygnus, and Perseus;

globular star clusters: M15 in the constellation Pegasus, M13 in the constellation Hercules, M3 in the constellation Canis Hounds, M5 in the constellation Serpens;

nebulae: M27 in the constellation Chanterelle, M57 in the constellation Lyra; M8 and M17 in the constellation Sagittarius, M16 in the constellation Serpent;

galaxies: M81 and M82 in the constellation Ursa Major, M51 and M94 in the constellation Canis Hounds.

Pollux and Castor in the constellation Gemini

Astronet.ru - Translation: D.Yu. Tsvetkov

If we consider astronomical objects, then in the famous constellation Gemini dominated by two bright stars shown in this photo: Pollux (left) and Castor (right). These two stars stand out because they are close in both brightness and position in the sky, but their colors are different.
Pollux, 33 light-years away, is an evolved red giant twice as massive as our Sun. Castor is 51 light years away. It is a blue main sequence star, about 2.7 times as massive as the Sun. Castor has two satellite stars, and one massive planet revolves around Pollux.

According to ancient Babylonian, Greek and Roman mythology, Castor and Pollux are twin brothers.

________________________________________
When preparing the page, material from the School Astronomical Calendar for the 2016-2017 academic year was used, Big Encyclopedia astronomy V.G. Mute and site materials:
http://www.astronet.ru;
http://edu.zelenogorsk.ru

In June, the moment of opposition reaches the ringed planet Saturn, shining in the constellation Ophiuchus low on the horizon throughout the night. Mercury not seen for a month. Venus can be found in the morning at the very edge of the eastern horizon, as well as in the afternoon in a clear cloudless sky. Mars begins to hide in the rays of the setting sun. Jupiter visible in the evening sky in the constellation Virgo. Uranus and Neptune can be found in the morning sky low above the horizon in the constellations of Pisces and Aquarius.

Moon will approach the indicated planets: on June 4 at night with a lunar phase of 0.72 - with Jupiter, on June 10 at night with a full moon - with Saturn, on June 16 at night with a lunar phase of 0.57 - with Neptune, on June 20 in the morning with a lunar phase of 0.25 - with Uranus, on June 21 in the morning with a lunar phase of 0.15 - with Venus, on June 24 in the afternoon with a new moon - with Mercury, on June 25 in the evening with a lunar phase of 0.01 - with Mars. For observations, it is better to choose nights when the Moon near the full phases does not pass near the observed planet.

The visibility conditions are given for the middle latitudes of Russia (about 56°N). For cities north and south celestial bodies will be located at the indicated time, respectively, slightly lower or higher (by the difference in latitude) relative to their places in the sky of Bratsk. To clarify the local conditions for the visibility of planets, use planetarium programs.

MERCURY not visible all month at mid-latitudes. It moves in the same direction as the Sun through the constellations of Aries, Taurus and Gemini. The elongation of Mercury at the beginning of the month is reduced from 20 degrees to 1 degree at superior conjunction with the Sun on June 21st. The movements of Mercury against the background of stars from June 16 to 27 can be observed in the field of view of the SOHO coronograph (Mercury is a bright object in the images, moving from right to left above the Sun). By the end of the month, the angular distance from the Sun increases to 10° in the evening sky. The apparent size of Mercury decreases from 6 to 5 arc seconds with increasing brightness from -0.5m to -2.1m at the conjunction, to -1.3m by the end of the month. The phase of Mercury increases from 0.67 to 1.0 (in conjunction), to 0.92 by the end of the month. Successful observations of Mercury during periods of visibility require binoculars, an open horizon, and a clear twilight sky.

VENUS moves in the same direction as the Sun in the constellation Pisces, Aries and Taurus. Venus will reach its greatest elongation (angular distance) of 46 degrees west of the Sun on June 3rd. The planet is visible in the twilight morning at the easternmost horizon at about 1 o'clock at the end of the month. The angular dimensions of the planet's disk are reduced from 24 to 18 arcseconds. The phase of the planet increases from 0.48 to 0.62 with decreasing brightness from -4.6m to -4.3m. The elongation of the planet decreases to 43 degrees by the end of the month. Such a bright brilliance and angular distance from the Sun make it possible to observe Venus during the day with the naked eye (under the condition of a transparent clear blue sky). A half-disk is visible through the telescope, gradually turning into an oval with a simultaneous decrease in the size of the planet, because. the distance between Venus and Earth is increasing.

Venus and the Moon in the morning sky June 21, 2017 - an excellent guide for finding the planet during the day!

MARS has a direct movement in the constellation of Taurus and Gemini, gradually approaching the Sun. By the middle of the month, the Red Planet is completely lost in the rays of the setting Sun in the evening sky. The brightness of the planet adheres to the value +1.7m, and the angular size is about 3".

For observations, a telescope with a lens diameter of 60-90 mm is required. To observe the details on the disk of Mars, the moment of opposition, which occurs once every two years, is best suited. At other periods, Mars appears in a telescope as a tiny reddish disk with no details. The next opposition of Mars will occur on July 27, 2018 (Great Opposition!).

JUPITER moves back in the constellation Virgo, on June 6, changing the movement to a direct one. The gas giant is visible for about 4 hours at the beginning of the month, reducing visibility in the evening sky to 2 hours by the end of the period under consideration. The angular diameter of the giant planet in the sky decreases from 40 to 37 arc seconds, and the brightness from -2.1m to -1.9m.

Position of Jupiter in the evening twilight sky of June 2017

Four bright satellites of the giant are visible through binoculars - due to the rapid orbital movement, they noticeably change their position relative to each other and Jupiter during one night (the configurations of Io, Europa, Ganymede and Callisto can be found in astronomical calendars or in planetarium programs).

The telescope distinguishes bands (northern and southern equatorial bands), shadows from satellites periodically pass across the planet’s disk, as well as the famous huge oval cyclone BKP (Great Red Spot), which makes a complete revolution along with the planet’s atmosphere in 9.5 hours. The current longitude of the BKP can be found at http://jupos.privat.t-online.de/rGrs.htm. The BKP appears about 2 hours before passing through the meridian and disappears after 2 hours (goes beyond the disk).

The moments of the passage of the BKP through the central meridian of Jupiter in JUNE 2017 (universal time UT)
To get the time for Bratsk, you need to add 8 hours to UTC

Current longitude BKP 270°

SATURN moving backwards through the constellation Ophiuchus. The planet is observed all night, on June 15, passing the moment of its opposition to the Sun. The angular diameter of Saturn reaches a maximum of 18 seconds of arc at a magnitude of +0.2m. Has come best period in 2017 for observations of the ringed planet, which will last until August.

In a small telescope, the ring around the planet and the satellite Titan (+8m) are clearly distinguished. The visible dimensions of the planet's ring are about 40x18 arc seconds. At present, the rings of the planet are open at 26 ° and the north pole of the gas giant is illuminated by the Sun.

Position of Saturn in the night sky in June 2017

URANUS moves in the same direction as the Sun in the constellation Pisces near *omicron Pisces. The duration of morning visibility by the end of the month reaches 2 hours. The brightness of the planet adheres to the value of +5.8m at an angular diameter of 3".

During opposition periods, Uranus can be observed with the naked eye in a clear transparent sky, in the absence of illumination from the Moon (near the new moon) and away from city lights. In a 150-mm telescope with a magnification of 80x and higher, you can see a greenish disk ("pea") of the planet. The satellites of Uranus have a brightness weaker than +13m.

NEPTUNE moves in the same direction with the Sun along the constellation of Aquarius near *lamda (3.7m), on June 16, changing the movement to backward and entering the trajectory by the time of its opposition on September 5. The planet can be found low above the horizon, where it is visible in optical instruments around 1-3 am. The brightness of the planet is +7.9m magnitude and almost does not differ from the surrounding stars.