Section updated: June 3rd, 2025.
For the early night hours of the month of June, our Milky Way galaxy will be seen emerging from the southeastern horizon. The stars in our spring sky still appear high above and are rather sparce, as our overhead views look out “above our galaxy’s main plane” to those galaxies beyond.
Target Observations for Friday June 6th's Public Viewing Session:
While there was to be some weather for the evening, a dust cloud from Africa in our skies has moved into our area. It may be that the dust particles provide a nucleating source for the water vapor, so it seems that they will clear out from the sky on Friday for us. Yesterday’s sunset looked “whiter, vaguer and rather shiny”. This would be the Sun’s light reflecting off of the widely spread-out air born dust. It is not due to water vapor/ice particles as ice refracts sunlight, as that often gives clouds a prismatic tinge to them. Take a moment to look for it yourself.
This region is chock full of interesting things to see, such as the distant "intergalactic wandering" globular cluster (NGC 2419, Lynx in the north), the "UFO Galaxy" (NGC 2683, Lynx), the 41 ly distant star ρ1 Canceri (55 Cnc, now named “Copernicus”) which is an exoplanetary system of 5 planets, open clusters M48 and M67. We’ll check on the status of T Corona Borealis and examine the globular clusters of M3 in Canes Venatici, M5 in Serpens Caput and Hercules’ M13. Depending upon the conditions, we can try for a few galaxies that night, or even Omega Centauri in the south. If that is visible to us, then after 9:15 pm, we could push on toward Rigel Kentaurus (a.k.a “Alpha Centauri” the next star out), or Becrux and Gacrux of the Southern Cross. (They would be a challenge through the skyglow of Ft. Lauderdale & Miami, so there is no guarantee there!) By midnight, those constellations toward the Milky Way Galaxy’s central bulge will be appearing to us, such as Libra (see if you can notice the supposed “greenish” tint of its star Zuben Elgenubi!), Ophiuchus the serpent bearer, and Scorpio with its Cat’s Eye Nebula (M4), as will the northern summer constellations, like Lyra, its star Vega and its Ring Nebula. So, the summer constellations are on their way toward us!
There will be a waxing gibbous Moon in the constellation of Virgo. Mars appears quite small and is more distant at 1.745 au away. It appears just in front of Leo the lion.
Target Observations for Tuesday June 17th's Public Viewing Session:
The growing daylight turns our attention to the later spring sky. Early on, we will examine the globular clusters of M3 in Canes Venatici, M5 in Serpens Caput and Hercules’ M13, and check on the status of T Corona Borealis. Has it gone nova yet? Depending upon the conditions, we can try for a few galaxies that night, or even Omega Centauri in the south. If that is visible to us, then after 9:15 pm, we could push on toward Rigel Kentaurus (a.k.a “Alpha Centauri” the next star out), or Becrux and Gacrux of the Southern Cross. (They would be a challenge through the skyglow of Ft. Lauderdale & Miami, so there is no guarantee there!) By midnight, those constellations toward the Milky Way Galaxy’s central bulge will be appearing to us, such as Libra (see if you can notice the supposed “greenish” tint of its star Zuben Elgenubi!), Ophiuchus the serpent bearer, and Scorpio with its Cat’s Eye Nebula (M4), as will the northern summer constellations, like Lyra, its star Vega and its Ring Nebula. So, the summer constellations are on their way toward us!
The planet Mars gets smaller and more distant at 1.831 au away. It appears 45 arcminutes NE of Leo’s star Regulus. Our own Moon will be at an almost third quarter phase, so don’t expect it to rise until after midnight, at nearly 1:30 am the next morning. So, we’ll miss it for the evening.
Moon-Mars Conjunction 🌒♂☌ for Sunday, June 29th:
Get your binoculars out to see this close appearance between our Moon and Mars. While for some locations the Moon will occult (block) our view of the planet, for us here in South Florida, they’ll be just under 15 arcminutes apart from each other, literally half of the Moon’s diameter. Look for them to the western horizon around 9 pm just 6° east of Leo’s star Regulus.
