Moon and Saturn align as ‘space clouds’ shine: the night sky this week

Every Monday I pick North America’s celestial highlights for the week ahead (which also apply to northern latitudes in the Northern Hemisphere), but don’t forget to check my main feed for more in-depth articles on stargazing, astronomy, eclipses and more.

ForbesIn photos: The full rise of the ‘Strawberry Moon’ marks a once-in-18-year eventBy means of Jamie Carter

The night sky this week: June 24-30, 2024

Just a few days after the solstice, this week has the last sunsets of 2024. A bad week for stargazing? Not really. Of course, you’ll have to stay up until about midnight to get the sky dark enough to see stars, but at twilight you’ll have fantastic views of the waning moon near Saturn and Neptune, and plenty of satellites catching the sun’s glint. and even ‘space clouds’ in the northern sky.

Here’s what you can see in the night sky this week:

Tuesday, June 25: Falcon heavy rocket launch

Today will see the launch of a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket from the Kennedy Space Center, Florida. It will place the NASA/NOAA GOES-U (soon to be called GOES-19) weather satellite into geostationary orbit 36,000 kilometers above the equator. In addition to providing weather forecasts for the US, GOES-U is unique in that it features a coronagraph that images the Sun’s corona – the mysterious hotter outer atmosphere visible from Earth only during a total solar eclipse – and so on. helps solar physicists predict coronal mass more accurately. emit and therefore the solar wind from the sun.

NASA and SpaceX are targeting a two-hour launch window at 5:16 PM EDT on Tuesday, June 25. Keep an eye on it the SpaceX feed for exact times, and check the SpaceX YouTube channel for a live feed.

Thursday, June 27: Moon-Saturn Conjunction

In the early morning hours (rising in the east around 1 a.m.), the 68% illuminated waning moon, which is closest to Earth this month, will appear very close to Saturn. Mars and Jupiter will also be visible over the east.

From eastern Australia and northeastern New Zealand, the moon will occult (eclipse) the ‘ringed planet’ for a few hours, according to In-The-Sky.org.

Friday, June 28: Neptune occults in the last fifteen minutes

This morning it’s the turn of Neptune, the eighth planet from the Sun, which will be visited by a 58% illuminated waning crescent moon, rising in the east around 1am. This is an excellent opportunity to see Neptune, usually a challenging target – with binoculars.

From northern South America (northwestern Brazil, Peru, Colombia and Venezuela), the moon will occult (eclipse) the ‘ringed planet’ for a few hours, according to In-The-Sky.org.

Saturday, June 29: Darkest summer skies

Stargazing becomes difficult now that the nights are so short in the Northern Hemisphere. But at least the moon is out of the way now. It now rises around 1am, wherever you are above the equator, the last quarter (or third quarter) moon – still only half-illuminated – will rise 50 minutes later each night.

Sunday June 30: ‘Asteroid Day’

Today is Asteroid Day, but hopefully that doesn’t mean any dangerous space rocks are bound to Earth. Later this year will see “first light” for the Vera Rubin Observatory, which will deploy a wide-angle camera to map the night sky in real time, potentially finding thousands of asteroids that scientists don’t yet know about.

Naked eye target of the week: noctilucent clouds

Twilight will dominate your stargazing, so make the most of it. At their best in the northern twilight sky in June and July (at latitudes between 50° and 70° north and south of the equator), noctilucent or ‘night-shining’ clouds are high-altitude clouds of icy dust traveling about 50 miles/80 meters forms. kilometers up.

Best seen with the naked eye or binoculars, delicate NLCs are visible at this time of year as they are illuminated by the sun, which sets but never rises far below the horizon.

Binocular target of the week: large globular star cluster

Ideally placed in the night sky this month is M13, the ‘Large Globular Cluster in Hercules’. A spectacular sight with binoculars or a small telescope: the nearest and brightest globular cluster – as seen from the Northern Hemisphere – is about 25,000 light-years away.

A globular cluster consists of 10 billion year old stars that formed outside the Milky Way and are now spinning in their halo. M13 is one of 150 that we know of, but it is one of the best to observe. Look almost to the zenith – directly above – between the bright stars Vega and Arcturus.

The times and dates given are for mid-northern latitudes. For the most accurate location-specific information, consult online planetariums such as SkySafari Pro And Stellarium. Bill planet rising/planet setting, Sunrise Sunset And moonrise/moonset times for where you are.

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I wish you clear skies and big eyes.