Podcaster: Alice Enevoldsen aka Alice’s AstroInfo
Title: What’s Up Tonight! Southern Skies June 2015 Edition
Organization: Alice’s AstroInfo
Link : www.alicesastroinfo.com
Heavens-Above Starcharts for anywhere, anytime, not installation required
Stellarium Free planetarium-style program for your computer or tablet
7Timer – Clear sky charts (will it be clear enough for stargazing?). Input your location, then click on “ASTRO” in the pop-up.
Description: Presented as a counterpart to Awesome Astronomy’s Northern Hemisphere monthly forecast, Alice talks about what’s visible from the Southern Hemisphere. Focused at about 33°S, this forecast should work for anywhere between 25°S and 50°S
Bio: Alice Enevoldsen currently volunteers as one of NASA’s Solar System Ambassadors. She has been working in planetariums since 1996, has a B.A. in Astronomy-Geology from Whitman College, and a Masters in Teaching from Seattle University. Her fascination with the stars led her to try her hand at astronomy research in Boston and Walla Walla, where she realized that her calling in life was actually to work in outreach and be a translator for scientists. Now she works hard to share her love of the stars and excitement about astronomy with as many people as possible.
Today’s sponsor: This episode of “365 Days of Astronomy” is sponsored by — no one. We still need sponsors for many days in 2015, so please consider sponsoring a day or two. Just click on the “Donate” button on the lower left side of this webpage, or contact us at signup@365daysofastronomy.org.
Transcript:
Hello, I’m Alice Enevoldsen, coming to you not-so-live from Alice’s AstroInfo with a podcast about what’s up in the June 2015 skies … over the Southern Hemisphere.
How are you today?… Awesome, I hope it keeps getting better.
Let’s change things up and start with the Moon Phases this month, dates adjusted for Sydney, Australia.
So, coming up here is the last quarter moon on June 10th, visible in the early morning sky.
A week later on the day of the new moon, June 17th, you won’t see the Moon at all, but a day before or after you might see a tiny sliver of a crescent Moon as the Sun rises or sets, and a few days outside of that the Moon will be up all day.
The first quarter moon, June 24th, is ideal for late afternoon and early evening observation.
The next full moon will be July 2nd. It rises around sunset, and sets around sunrise.
Sky Objects and Events
Let’s see, what else is happening… well, it’s June so we have a solstice! The solstice moment occurs on June 21st at 4:38pm Universal Time, so in Sydney we’re looking at Monday June 22nd after 2 in the morning for the moment of the solstice. If you want to check the sunset alignment with me, that would be the day that the Sun should set furthest South … after this the location of sunrise and sunset creeps back North again. I’ll be hosting a sunset watch from Seattle on Saturday June 20th. The solstices are a great time to realize how much the curve of the Earth affects us. What time does twilight end for you? In Sydney the sun sets around 4:54pm and twilight ends at 5:22pm. Look yours up.
On June 18th it will be the Spring Equinox for Mars’s Northern Hemisphere.
June 30th marks the first official “Asteroid Day” as well as the day we add one leap-second to the clocks. Yay! Extra sleep! Or maybe use that extra second to figure out how you can support asteroid-hunting missions that will help us keep our eyes out for that one asteroid that will someday hit the Earth.
Speaking of keeping our eyes peeled, it’s time for “Hey, what’s that?”
Venus. Of course. It’s been Venus for months now, but it is still true! Last night I was taken aback by it, thinking—even though I know better—that can’t possibly be a planet, that must be a plane. But sure enough, it stayed there and didn’t change course or fly over me or start blinking. It was Venus. This is the time of the Venus-Earth cycle that it really starts getting unbelievable. The only things brighter than a bright Venus are the Sun and Moon (obviously), the International Space Station during its particularly bright passes, and Iridium flares if you happen to be standing in exactly the right place to see them.
P.S. Iridium flares aren’t flares of iridium. They’re bright transient reflections off of satellites launched by the Iridium company.
Okay, so it if wasn’t Venus you saw, Jupiter is next on the list, and a higher in the sky, followed along to the South by Sirius, brightest star in the night sky. These objects are going to be overshadowing anything else you might see.
A bit before Jupiter sets, Saturn rises in the East, followed by Vega near the North and Altair in the Northeast.
The lineup of early Evening Constellations gains Corona Borealis, Ophiuchus, Serpens, Saggitarius and Corona Australis. There are plenty of beautiful chances to view the Milky Way and the interesting deep sky objects along in there.
Well! Thanks for tuning in: I hope I gave you some things for which to keep your eyes peeled.
For those of you who haven’t listened before I’m here as a foil for Ralph and Paul with Awesome Astronomy and their monthly 365 Days of Astronomy, International Year of Light podcast about what’s up in the skies over the Northern Hemisphere.
This podcast is based at 33°S: times and dates are given for Sydney, Australia. Most information will be good anywhere from about 25°S to 50°S, though you may have to adjust the time zone. This will include major cities in Australia, New Zealand, countries in Africa south of Mozambique and Namibia, as well as the parts of South America south of Paraguay.
I’ll add some of my favorite planning links to the end of the transcript for you as usual. If you have suggestions, things that you’d like me to add to the “What’s up Tonight, Southern Skies Edition,” you can e-mail me from my website!
Once again, I’m Alice Enevoldsen. You can find me online as AlicesAstroInfo on Twitter, Facebook, and www.alicesastroinfo.com
Useful Links:
Heavens-Above Starcharts for anywhere, anytime, no installation required
Stellarium Free planetarium-style program for your computer or tablet
7Timer – Clear sky charts (will it be clear enough for stargazing?). Input your location, then click on “ASTRO” in the pop-up.
Monthly Sky Guides from Sydney Observatory
End of podcast:
365 Days of Astronomy
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The 365 Days of Astronomy Podcast is produced by NUCLIO. Audio post-production by Richard Drumm. Bandwidth donated by libsyn.com and wizzard media. You may reproduce and distribute this audio for non-commercial purposes. Please consider supporting the podcast with a few dollars (or Euros!). Visit us on the web at 365DaysOfAstronomy.org or email us at info@365DaysOfAstronomy.org. This year we celebrate cosmic light as light is our info messenger in the universe. Join us and share your story to celebrate the International Year of Light. Until tomorrow! Goodbye!
Regarding the line “If you want to check the sunset alignment with me, that would be the day that the Sun should set furthest South … after this the location of sunrise and sunset creeps back North again”, unfortunately this is wrong for the June Solstice. At this time Sun reaches the point furtherest point north (when its over the Tropic of Cancer) after which it slowly creeps south until at the December Solstice (over the Tropic of Capricorn) when it creeps north again.