Night Sky: Visible planets, globular clusters, and other June highlights | Free Island Press

Have you ever lost a galaxy?

This M91:

It was discovered by Charles Messier in 1781. It is a very faint galaxy (magnitude +10.0), in the constellation Virgo which is about 63 million light-years away from us. Unfortunately, Messier made a clerical error when indexing the M91. Its location was recorded as being close to the M58, but its actual measurements were related to the M89. This means that anyone trying to verify Messier’s discovery will end up looking at an expanse of empty black sky.

Apparently, no one told Messier his mistake because he never corrected the situation. To make things a little funny, M91 was dubbed “The Messier’s Lost Galaxy” until 1969 when an amateur astronomer named William C. Williams realized that Messier’s directions to go from M58 to M91 worked if you changed the starting point to M89. In fact, the corrected description leads directly to NGC 4571, which was indexed by William Herschel in 1784.

What to look for in the May night sky

There are two globular clusters that you can see through binoculars in the northeast sky just after dark.

M13 is also known as the Hercules block.

M13 was discovered in 1714 by the famous astronomer William Halley. He pointed out that it can be seen with the naked eye on clear and dark nights. With a size of +5.78, you will need to find a stretch of very dark beach to try to find this gem with the naked eye. But you have a good chance of finding it with a good binoculars or a small telescope.

Assuming you’re at the beach between 9 and 10 p.m. on June 1, you can try to locate the M13 using the following steps.

1. Orient yourself so that you are looking east.
2. Look for a very bright red star almost straight in the ESE sky. This is Arcturus.
3. Now look for a very bright blue star about 30 degrees above the ENE horizon. This is Vega
4. Form an imaginary line between the two stars.
5. M13 is just above this imaginary line and slightly north to the east. It will appear to the naked eye as a faint, hazy star.

The second globular cluster is M92. It is also found in the constellation Orion. It is located a little to the north and a little lower than the M13. The easiest way to find it is to locate the Vega and then look for 12 degrees above it. The M92’s size is +6.4, so it’s not as bright as the M13. You will definitely need an endoscope or an endoscope to find it. M92 is about 27 thousand light-years away from us.

This M92:

There are no visible planets in the evening sky, but there are some interesting stars that you can spot and identify easily. As mentioned earlier, Vega and Arcturus are very bright and easy to find. You can also search for Antares. It is visible near the eastern horizon immediately after it darkens. This is a beautiful red giant star of magnitude +1. Many people mistake it for the red planet Mars because Antares is located very close to the ecliptic (the plane formed by the Earth’s rotation around the sun – all planets follow pretty much the same path). In fact, the name Antares means “rival of Mars.” Antares is about 550 light-years away from us.

The early morning sky features a constellation of most planets. Saturn rises at 12:53 a.m., followed by Neptune at 2:13 a.m. Mars rises at 3:43 a.m., Jupiter rises at 2:34 and 2:41 a.m. and Venus rises at 3:38. Finally, Uranus rises at 4:26 am. The best battle plan for viewing is to venture out to ORV Ramp 27, (or any other dark spot with a good view of the eastern horizon), around 4 a.m. Saturn will be about 30 degrees above sea level. SE. Then work your way back to the East and the other planets. Remember, you will need binoculars or a telescope to see Neptune and Uranus.

There are no major meteor showers in June.

Moon phases:

1^Street Quarter is June 7

The full moon is June 14

The last quarter is June 20

The new moon is June 28