The June Sky

....Welcome to June, the first month to begin with Suburban Observing.  AT the beginning of each month, I'll provide a map of the sky.  Sure, there are other places that you could go to in order to get a sky map; what good does this one do?  I will add information to this map as I've discussed it , and as I will write about in the coming month (so the number of stars, asterisms, and constellations will build over time).  Once a constellation has been covered, I'll let the interested reader fall back on the individual constellation maps for star names within the constellation.  The patterns I'll use for the constellations will (in general) be ones made from fairly bright stars, so that they can be found from below streetlights.

.....So here we have the sky for June.  The Big Dipper (and the whole of Ursa Major) is quite high in the sky as June starts, as are the bright stars that we can use the Big Dipper to find.  Saturn will be easily visible all month, and Mercury will be viewable - maybe, depending on what your western horizon looks like - the last week of the month.

.....As June goes on, Libra, Ursa Minor, and Boötes will reach their highest point in the evening sky, and rising in the east is the Summer Triangle, as asterism that despite the name, will stay with us through November.  There is also a meteor shower (well, a weak, low-intensity meteor shower), and I will go over some of what you can get out of observing the Moon.  Hopefully, something there is enough to bring you back.