Salutations celestial sight seers!
I'm David Fuller, welcome to Eyes on the Sky; what's up this week?
Can you believe it is summer already in the northern hemisphere already?
The solstice occurs officially at 5:04 am UT on June 21.
So what changes can we expect to see in the night sky for summer?
The constellations of spring have all rotated towards the west and are still visible: Virgo,
Leo, Bootes, even Ursa Major, which is circumpolar for many of us, has rotated towards the northwestern
sky.
But that "looking up and out of our galaxy" area of sky gives way to looking INTO our
own Milky Way galaxy, and there is A LOT to see here.
In the north, Ursa Minor is largely standing on it's tail, with Polaris anchoring the little
bear from below, and Kocab up higher in the sky.
Winding it's way between Ursa Minor and Ursa Major is Draco the dragon, which curls back
up and around the little bear, then continues its way towards some if the dragon's brightest
stars in it's head, peering back at us via 2.2 magnitude Etamin.
Just beyond the head of the dragon lies Hercules, one of the largest constellations in the sky
by area, yet only glowing weakly from urban and suburban areas due to its brightest stars
largely in the 3-rd magnitude range.
Back in the northwest, we can find Queen Cassiopeia hugging the horizon, and showing us where
the Milky Way band begins its ascent into the sky at this time of year.
The queen has many open clusters worth seeking out, a number of which are easily observed
in 60 millimeter scopes or larger.
The Milky Way then passes just under Cepheus the King, a largely dim, house-shaped constellation,
and the dusty band of stars reaches a more prominent set of stars and constellations
at that point.
First magnitude Deneb lies at the upper edge of the galaxy's plane here, and is at the
top of the "northern cross" set of stars within Cygnus the Swan, a much larger constellation
that extends into the informally-named "Summer Triangle" of stars, which includes Deneb.
Looking to the south is a second member, Altair, heading up the beak of Aquila the Eagle.
Between these two stars, but above the galactic plane towards Hercules is Vega, one of the
brightest summer stars that signals the diminutive constellation of Lyra the Harp.
Some dimmer constellations surround this area, and contain a number of superb summer observing
sights, such as Messiers 27, 39, 56, 57 and 71, among others such as the double star Albireo.
But the real treats of summer lie towards the south.
As we follow the stream of stars from our galaxy this direction, we find ourselves at
Scutum the shield, a dim constellation but with several gems hidden inside.
There is a bright patch of the Milky Way here, where dust does not obscure our view of the
stars that lie in that direction.
The open cluster Messier 11 lies at the edge of this cloud of stars, which is too large
to see with a telescope, but an area of sky well worth sweeping with binoculars.
To the south are perhaps some of the highlights of the summer sky: Sagittarius the Archer
and Scorpius the Scorpion.
The former constellation has an asterism within it often referred to as "The Teapot," as there
are eight stars that resemble such a shape.
Looking off the section of this Teapot where "steam" would be escaping is to be looking
directly towards the center of our Milky Way Galaxy, around which all its stars, including
our Sun, revolve.
Sagittarius is littered with globular clusters, open clusters, and some bright nebula that
rival the beauty of Orion's nebula in winter.
To the west of the archer sits the Scorpion, easily found from first magnitude and reddish-hued
Antares.
There are several open clusters, globular clusters, and fascinating double stars here
as well.
That's all for this week.
Keep your eyes on the sky and your outdoor lights aimed down, so we can all see, what's
up.
I'm David Fuller, wishing you clear and dark skies.