In May, we had the long-awaited return of the Soviet Venus explorer, Kosmos 482. It returned home on Saturday, May 10, crashing somewhere into the Indian Ocean after 53 years. It was previously hypothesized and reported it would land somewhere near the United Kingdom. Only 7,000 miles off!
June offers its own exciting astronomical events, though no large-scale satellite reentries. Planet viewing is a little lackluster. Venus and Saturn will be visible in the morning, with Mars visible at night but fading away nearer to midnight. However, the best view of Mercury all year will be in the middle/end of the month, though it is still generally difficult to spot.
The Arietids meteor shower begins on Thursday, May 29, and runs through June 17, with its peak on June 7. The shower averages around 60 meteors per hour – or one every minute (though it could even be higher at times). To catch them, know they dart across the sky between the Aries and Perseus constellations. This means they are low, near the horizon to the east.
This month’s full moon is named the “Strawberry Moon” due to its timing aligning with the peak of strawberry harvests. It occurs on June 11. With that, don’t forget to go strawberry picking!
June 20 is the summer solstice heralding the arrival of summer. Happy Vestalia to the Romans. As always, this is the longest day of the year in terms of daylight hours.
There will be a new moon on June 25, though it won’t be visible to us. This makes for a darker sky and an excellent day to track planets, constellations, nebulas, and galaxies.
June 30 is International Asteroid Day, as proclaimed by the United Nations. June 30 is the 117th anniversary of the “Tunguska Event” happening in Russia in 1908. An asteroid 150-200 feet wide traveling a little over 60,000 miles per hour, per estimate, blew up (air burst) over sparsely populated central Siberia. The explosion blew over nearly 80,000,000 trees. This event is the largest meteor impact humans have recorded in our short time tracking such. The purpose of the international day is to raise awareness for such events, while also highlighting the “luck” we have experienced, should it have landed somewhere else on the planet.
There is always plenty to see and many apps, websites, and other resources to aid in identifying. NASA is always great for events (like the meteor shower) and ISS flyovers. Happy and lucky stargazing to you.
Astronomy Update for June
By Sam Bishop