Abstract
THE short nights round about the summer solstice on June 22 are less than 7J hours in length according to the sun's setting and rising in the latitude of London, and a little more than 3 hours if nautical twilight be reckoned. The moon is full on June 2 and new on June 17. A notable occultation occurring on June 25 is that of the first magnitude star Spica (a Virginis) when the moon is 8-2 days old. At Greenwich the disappearance takes place at 16h. 12-6m. at position angle 142° from the north point and the reappearance at 17h. 14-Om. at 265°. At Edinburgh, the corresponding times and position angles are 16h. ll-3m. (133°) and 17h. 14-5m. (272°). Lunar conjunctions with the planets take place as follows: on June 6 with Mars, on June 11 with Jupiter, on June 13 with Saturn, on June 15 with Venus. In the latter part of the month, Mercury may be seen in the evening twilight, low down in the direction north of west. Venus rises in the dawn, preceded by Saturn some two hours earlier. Mars is growing brighter (-1-2 m. to -2-0 m.) and rises before midnight. Jupiter, also increasing in brightness (-1-8 m. to -2-0 m/), rises after midnight. There are close groupings of the four inner satellites about Jupiter at 2£h. on June 5, 22 and 30. On June 17 at the same hour only two of the satellites (3rd and 4th) are visible, the first two being in transit. At the beginning of June the faint comet Pons-Winnecke is near (3 Botis and by mid-June near (3 Coronse Borealis. Comet Jurlof-Ackmarof-Hassel is being lost in the sunset. On June 1 it will be about 5° north of Y Geminorum, and by June 30 about midway between Procyon (a Canis Minoris) and y Geminorum. In mid-June at 22h., Arcturus has already southed; Antares, lowdown in the south, is approaching meridian passage; Vega is 3 hours before the meridian. The small beautiful constellation Corona Borealis is on the meridian. At midnight, 24h. U.T. (all times being thus expressed: add 1h. to convert to Summer Time), the star y Draconis passes within 1h. of the zenith at Greenwich. Observation of this star in 1725-26, for any sign of annual parallax, led to the discoveries by Bradley of the aberration of light and, later, of the nutation of the earth's axis.
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The Night Sky in June. Nature 143, 892 (1939). https://doi.org/10.1038/143892a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/143892a0