The Sky This Week, 2013 June 18 - 25

The Moon brightens the overnight hours this week, waxing to the Full
phase on the 23rd at 7:32 am Eastern Daylight Time. As she progresses
eastward against the stars she also dives down to the southernmost
reaches of the ecliptic. If the air is sultry and hazythis may give
Luna a somewhat warmer tint than her usual dazzling white glow, which
may be why this particular Full Moon is popularly known as the Mead
Moon, Rose Moon, or Honey Moon. The latter, ofcourse, may be one of
the reasons that June is a popular month for weddings. Another popular
name is the Strawberry Moon, since this is the peak of the short
strawberry harvest season. Look for the Moon just three degrees east
of the bright star Spica on the evening of the 18th. On the 19th she
is seven degrees southeast of yellow-hued Saturn. On the 21st Luna
courses six degrees north of the bright star Antares.
In recent years much hay has been made over a phenomenon popularly
called the "Super-Moon". This term was coined fairly recently to
describe the coincidence of the FullMoon with the year's closest lunar
perigee, and it happens to occur this month. In fact, perigee occurs
just 20 minutes before the instant of Full Moon at a distance of
356,991 kilometers (221,824 miles). While some people claim that this
makes the Moon appear exceptionally bigger and brighter than "normal",
I have never noticed such effects. The only thing that makes the Moon
appear larger to meis the well-known "Moon Illusion", where the
apparent size of the Moon's disc is distorted by its proximity to
objects on the horizon when it is either rising or setting. This year
many people may think theMoon looks bigger, but the Full Moon is never
more than 30 degrees above the Washington horizon, inviting the Moon
Illusion to play its tricks on all of us.
Summer officially begins on June 21st at 1:04 am EDT. At this time the
Sun will be located directly overhead along the Tropic of Cancerat a
point along the border between China and Vietnam. Here in Washington
we'll see our longest duration of daylight for the year with Old Sol
above the horizon for 14 hours 54 minutes. However, we won't quite see
the year's latest sunset on the 21st. Thanks to our need for keeping a
mean time-scale and the elliptical orbit of the Earth that event won't
occur until the 28th. While most of us probably haven't noticed, the
earliest sunriseoccurred back on June 14th. On the21st sunrise will
occur a full two minutes later.
Evening twilight is the time to startlooking for planets as spring
turns to summer. On a good clear eveningyou should have no trouble
picking out Venus within a half hour of sunset. She is slowly making
her way eastward from the Sun with each passing evening, and she will
be a steady fixture right after sunset for the rest of the year. Over
the first few days of the week she passes within two degrees of the
elusive planet Mercury. You'll need to wait until at least half an
hour after sunset and use binoculars to spot Mercury, which isnow
beginning to take a sudden plunge toward the Sun. The fleet planet
will be located just to the left of Venus on these first few evenings,
and then the two worlds will rapidly part company. If you canget a
telescope on Mercury before he sets, watch his phase shrink as a
waning crescent. We had an excellent view of this little-seen world at
the recent "Astronomy Night on the National Mall" program.
Once Venus and Mercury have departed the scene you should be able to
see Saturn in the fading vestiges of twilight. Saturn forms one apex
of a large elongated triangle in the sky with the other corners marked
by the bright stars Arcturus and Spica. You should be able to tell the
planetary nature of Saturn by comparing the three objects in your
binoculars. The stars will still be bright pinpoints oflight, but
Saturn will appear as a tiny oval. Of course the real treat isto see
Saturn through a telescope. No matter how many times I look at it
through mine, I still have to convince myself that it's real in a
unreal world "FEEL ME" Oh just kidding!
S$

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