Camp Blue Spruce

June 2023

As in May, Venus continues as the dominant bright light in the evening sky this month (other than the moon). Just look to the
west at sunset and it’s easy to see! Venus will be about 50% illuminated early in the month. By the end of June, Venus will be
in a crescent phase about 25% illuminated, but because it’s then closer to the earth, it’s diameter will appear to increase and
it’s brightness won’t diminish! You’ll need a pair of strong binoculars to see the phases of Venus, but you can do so by
stabilizing your binos on a post or on a car.

Here are some other June sights. All are at night except for the event on June 14.

Early in June: Venus will be seen near the Beehive star cluster (M44) and reddish Mars will be nearby. Both the star cluster
and Mars are considerably dimmer than Venus!

June 12 & 13: Venus passes just north of M44. It will be a great sight in binoculars; strong magnification would be helpful.

June 14: The waning crescent moon and Jupiter rise together in the very early morning, before sunrise. There are only two
degrees that separate the two. Both will be easily seen together in a pair of binoculars.

June 21: The lunar crescent will form a nice right triangle with Venus and Mars after sunset.

June 22: The moon “visits” the constellation of Leo the Lion. The moon will be about 5 degrees (the width of your fist at
arm’s length) to the right (east) of Regulus, the brightest star in Leo.
The constellation of Bootes is fun to find in the night sky all month long. It will be high in the sky. The last three stars in the
handle of the big dipper “arc” toward the bright star Arcturus, the brightest star in Bootes. Arcturus is also the fourth
brightest star in our entire sky and the brightest one visible right now. Arcturus in one of the large stars in the night sky, but
it’s diameter is much smaller than that of Antares, that is also visible in tonight’s sky.

Antares is a Giant Red star in Scorpius, with a diameter that is considerably bigger than the orbit of Mars. See the pictorial
below to compare the sizes of our sun, Arcturus, and Antares. Antares has a definite reddish hue and will be low in the
southern sky.

The constellation of Bootes, with it’s bright star Arcturus is shown below. Arcturus was known as the “Guardian of the bear”
in Greek mythology.

May, 2023

by Astronomer Jim

Bright Venus is the dominant bright light in the evening sky this month (other than the moon). Just look to the west at sunset and it’s easy to see! Venus will be about 60% illuminated throughout the month (60% of it is visible) as it goes various phases, just like the moon. As the planets inside Earth from the sun, we only see Mercury and Venus go through moon-like phases. However, strong binoculars are needed to see Venus’s phases and a telescope is needed to see the phases of Mercury.

Bright Venus is the dominant bright light in the evening sky this month (other than the moon). Just look to the west at sunset and it’s easy to see! Venus will be about 60% illuminated throughout the month (60% of it is visible) as it goes various phases, just like the moon. As the planets inside Earth from the sun, we only see Mercury and Venus go through moon-like phases. However, strong binoculars are needed to see Venus’s phases and a telescope is needed to see the phases of Mercury.

Mary 17^th: A fun highlight is an “occultation” of Jupiter by the moon. Just before sunrise, at about 4:52 am PDT (but I suggest that you start looking at least 5 minutes in advance of that time), Jupiter will disappear behind the moon! Sunrise will occur at 5:27 am and Jupiter will reappear on the other side of the moon at 5:28 am. With binoculars, you can see Jupiter appearing to approach the side of the moon. Of course, they are never close at all because the moon is circling the earth the entire time and both are over 400 million miles from Jupiter!

On May 23^rd: There will be a very interesting configuration that will include two planets, the moon, and two bright stars. Mars will still be aligned almost straight across from Pollux and Castor, but now in between Mars and Pollux will be a crescent moon, and below the moon will be a very bright Venus. This will be a very grand sight in binoculars!

April is another good month to see bright stars in bright constellations. Leo the Lion is now front and center, due south after dusk is over. Orion and Gemini are still visible, but first Orion and then Gemini will be setting early in the night in the west.

A favorite sight that is easily visible in binoculars is the “Beehive Star Cluster” in the constellation of Cancer. Find the head of Leo and then move your binocs a few degrees to the west—you’ll see the Beehive! (see below photo). The Beehive contains 1,000 stars and is about 500 light years distant from us (each light year is 6 trillion miles!). In 1609, Galileo used his small “first telescope” to look at the Beehive and was able to identify 40 stars. A fun fact: We always call Galileo by his first name, although most famous people are called by their last names (except for Galileo, Elvis, and a few others!).

The head of Hydra, the monster, is located in the sky below the torso of Leo the Lion . Use the below star chart to find Leo and then you can find Hydra’s head below Leo. Hydra is the very largest constellation (we have 88 constellations in total), although from our latitude, it’s hard to see much of it except for the top part. Plus, it’s stars are dim—it’s brightest is only 2^nd magnitude, the same brightness as Polaris, the North Star. Hydra is a mythological figure comprised of a snake, a lion, and a bird—but it looks mostly like a snake! 

• Late evening of April 9^th: If you look hard you will see that the moon is only ½-degree away from Antares, the brightest star in the constellation of Scorpius. Antares is a “red giant,” with a diameter the size of the orbit of Mars!
• April 10^th & 11^th: Venus is positioned very close the Pleiades star cluster.
• Late night of 22^nd and early morning of the 23^rd: The Lyrid meteor shower can put on a display of lots of meteors, but typically they are faint and require a dark site. As always with meteor observing, it’s best to do so as late in the night as possible. And the very best is about 4:00 AM when it’s still dark outside, because at that time, your position on earth is rotating into the arriving meteors!