June’s night sky starts with a large number of nebulae just above the eastern horizon. M57 is a small but rather famous nebula that is also known as the Ring Nebula.
M57 can be viewed through a telescope or a pair of very good binoculars. The bright star Vega can help you find it. Vega is a blue-white star with a visual magnitude of 0. It’s the fifth brightest star in our sky. At 9:00 p.m. on June 1, it will be 22 degrees above the eastern horizon and about 33 degrees north of due east. You should be able to find M57, the Ring Nebula, about 6 degrees below and 3 degrees to the south of Vega.
M57 was discovered by Antoine Darquier de Pellepoix in January 1779. A few days later, Charles Messier independently discovered it and quickly included it in his list of “objects you shouldn’t mistake for comets.”
William Herschel, who is famous for coining the term “planetary nebula.” first saw M57 through his 7-foot reflecting telescope in 1785. He described it as a “curiosity of the heavens” and described it as “a ring of stars.”
M57 is about 1400 light years away from us.
About 17 degrees below M57 is a much brighter nebula, M27.
Charles Messier discovered M27 in 1764. He said it was an oval nebula without any stars. When William Hershel saw it in 1784, he came up with the term “planetary nebula.” His son came up with the nickname, Dumbbell Nebula. M27 has a visual magnitude of +7.1 and is about 1400 light years away from us. It’s much easier to view through binoculars than M57.
Other nebulae that can be viewed early in the night skies on June 1 include the Crescent Nebula, the North American Nebula, the Iris Nebula, and the Cave Nebula.
What you can look for in June’s Night Skies
On June 1, Jupiter will be visible about 10 degrees above the western horizon just after sunset, and Mars will be about 50 degrees above it.
The Bootid meteor shower peaks on June 27. This is a hit-or-miss shower. Sometimes, it’s spectacular with over 100 shooting stars per hour, but sometimes it just doesn’t have much activity. The shooting stars appear to originate just above the handle of the Big Dipper. That means this meteor shower will be almost directly overhead at 9:00 p.m.
Moon Phases:
1st Quarter is June 2
Full Moon is June 11
Last Quarter is June 18
New Moon is June 25
Repost, with update:
It would be nice if we could get the Park Service along with all the rental management companies to start a “Lights Out Hatters island” campaign and encourage people when they turn in at night to turn all their outside lights off. During the summer I’m constantly asking my rental neighbors to please shut their lights off at night, most tell me they didn’t even know the outside lights are on when they’re inside at night.
Update:
We have a newbie property owner who rents in Avon. I and another neighbor talked to them about having their lights on all night. They told us they have lights on a timer that comes on at night because they were told there were packs of coyotes roaming Hatteras Island eating people‘s pets. I’ve been on the island over 10 years and have never seen a coyote, let alone pack of coyotes. I do, however, have a bumper crop of bunnies in the yard this year, deer cruise by all the time as well as raccoons and possums. No one has been at the house since Memorial Day, because they’re just getting started renting it, but every night it’s all lit up whether anyone’s there or not. Those lights also might distract the turtles, the house is semi oceanfront. Not saying there aren’t coyotes on Hatteras Island. I have friends in Buxton that tell me they’ve lost some chickens, but I doubt the coyotes are rolling through Avon in packs.
Turn out the Lights and LOOK UP!
Dave in Avon.