June 28th: Mercury at greatest elongation, 26° East. (Poorly seen from Liverpool).
THE NIGHT SKY DURING THE MONTH OF JUNE 1999
and 
The Sun and Moon
All times are in BRITISH SUMMER TIME (BST). Times For Observer in Liverpool, Merseyside, England, U.K.
Latitude 53 degs 24 mins North.
Longitude +3.0 degs West.
May 31st June 5th 10th 15th 20th 25th 30th
SUNRISE 04:51 04:47 04:44 04:43 04:43 04:44 04:47
SUNSET 21:29 21:34 21:39 21:42 21:44 21:45 21:44
The SUMMER SOLSTICE occurs on the 21st at 19h:50m UT, the longest day of the year, and when the Sun will be at its highest point in the sky this year. The Sun lies in the constellations of Taurus/Gemini. Solstice is latin word literal meaning "Sun standstill".
|
PHASES OF THE MOON DURING JUNE 1999 |
NEW MOON
on 13th
at 19h:04m |
FIRST QUARTER
on 20th
at 018h:14mm |
FULL MOON
on 28th
at 21h:39m |
LAST QUARTER
on 7th
at 04h:21m |
THE PLANETS THIS MONTH.
MERCURY.
June sees the second evening apparition of Mercury this year. Because the angle of its orbit with respect to our horizon is shallower than it wa in February, its height above the horizon at the end of civil twilight is lower. So, on the 15th Mercury is only 4.5° above the horizon at an azimuth of just over 300° roughly an hour or so after Sunset. There will be no more favourable evening apparitions this year.
VENUS.
Venus continues its descent into the evening twilight and will soon be lost in the murk even though it is at its maximum distance from the Sun on the 11th. On the 12th an opportunity exits for owners of binoculars and small telescopes as Venus skirts a mere 40' North of the bright wide open star cluster M44 in Cancer. This cluster is also known as the Beehive and Praesepe. On the 17th at 04h Venus is 3° North of the Moon.
MARS.
Mars stops its retrograde motion this month and heads back Eastwards through Virgo passing 2° North of Alpha Virginis on the 6th for the second time this year. On the 23rd at 01h the Moon passes 5° North of Mars. Januarys' sky notes described how we were not looking exactly "face-on" to Mars' Sunlit hemisphere which meant that we were seeing a slightly gibbous phase. As Mars neared opposition this phenomenon disappeared and the phase became full as you would expect of an outer planet. Now, as Mars moves away from its April opposition the gibbous phase starts to show itself on the other side of the disk. The two other things readily apparent are that the apparent diameter is decreasing quite quickly along with its brightness.
MARSWATCH - latest observations of the red planet.
ASTEROIDS.
Ceres can be found in Gemini at Mag 8.8
Pallas can be found in Eri/Tau region at Mag 9.5
Vesta can be found in Leo at Mag 7.9.
For More information on Asteroids Click Here.
JUPITER.
On the 10th at 02h Jupiter is 5° North of the Moon and, contrary to Mars performance, its brightness is increasing steadily. A low magnification view on the 15th will reveal that the star Mu Piscium lies 0.5° South. Jupiter is still very much a morning object this month.
Launched in October 1989, the Galileo Jupiter Probe entered orbit around the great planet on December 7th 1995. The Project Galileo Homepage will give you up-to-date information and the very latest images returned.
SATURN.
Saturn is also starting to improve as it moves away from the solar glare, rising at 03h mid-month. The Moon passes 4° South on the 11th at 04h.
URANUS and 
NEPTUNE.
Uranus can be found low in the South-Eastern sky in the constellation of Capricornus, with Neptune just south, within the same constellation. However both will rise in the early hours during June.
Positions for the 1st June
R.A. DEC TRANSIT TIME MAG
21h:17m:41s -16°:27':59" 05h:53m 5.8
Neptune as indicated above can be found in the constellation of Capricornus being close to the star Sigma Capricorni by August.
Positions for the 1st June:
R.A. DEC TRANSIT TIME MAG
20h:23m:31s -19°:33':04" 03h:01m 7.9
PLUTO.
Pluto can be found on the border of Ophiuchus and Scorpius, above and to the right of the mag 2.6 star Zeta Scorpii. The best time to look for the planet is around New Moon. The dates below will be a guide for planning observations.
Positions for June are when pluto's elongation angle is greater than 90°.
DATE R.A. DEC TRANSIT TIME
June 10th 16h:33m:15s -09°:57':19" 00h:32m
June 20th 16h:32m:13s -09°:56':54" 23h:52m
June 30th 16h:31m:14s -09°:57':17" 23h:12m
Pluto is best seen between June 6th to June 20th.
METEORS.
COMETS.
OCCULATIONS.
EMail: ggastro@liverpool.ac.uk.
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