~ St. Maarten’s Backyard Astronomy for June 9 &10 ~
Sun rises at 5:36am
Sun sets at 6:47pm
Moon phase: fourth quarter, waning crescent
Moon rises at 2:12am
Moon sets at 2:45pm
This is a good time of year to learn some new constellations! Any June evening, you can look south and west (below and to the right) of the star Spica for the constellations of Corvus the Crow, Crater the Cup, and Hydra the Water Snake.
How to find Spica? Look to the south-southwestern sky around nightfall. You’ll note a brilliant “star” which is really the planet Jupiter. Jupiter lights up the sky as soon as the sun goes down. And Spica is the slightly less bright star just slightly “above and to the right” of Jupiter.
FYI: Spica is the brightest star in the constellation Virgo. Spica will be your guide to three lesser known, but very cool constellations: the Crow, Cup and Water Snake.
In Greek mythology, Apollo sent the crow to fetch a cup of water. The crow, Corvus, got distracted eating figs. It was only after much delay that he finally remembered his mission. Rightly figuring that Apollo would be angry, the crow plucked a snake from the water and concocted a story about how it had attacked and delayed him. Apollo was not fooled, though, and angrily flung the Crow, Cup and Snake into the sky, placing the Crow and Cup on the Snake’s back.
Then the god ordered Hydra to never let the Crow drink from the Cup. As a further punishment, he ordered that the Crow could never sing again, only screech and caw.
None of these constellations has any bright stars, but Hydra holds the distinction of being the longest constellation in the heavens.
Also, this is a great time of the year to look for the Southern Cross in the evenings. We here in the tropics can actually see the Big Dipper and the Southern Cross in the same sky together. Few places can state that! In early June the Southern Cross and Big Dipper reach upper transit – their high point – at virtually the same time, or around 7:00pm local time.
Thank you for keeping up with the Night Sky articles. If you are out later on in the week, each star rises about four minutes earlier each day than written here, and the moon rises 50 minutes later. Night Sky is researched and compiled by Lisa Davis-Burnett. Earthsky.org is a key resource for information and images. Questions or comments? Email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
