Pristine night skies are an endangered habitat.They are beautiful to behold, but the thousands of stars once visible to the naked eye are now obscured by the glare of industrial light and the haze of pollution. On the other hand, it is estimated that stargazers in the Smoky Mountains can see over 15,000 stars that are on display as well as the sprawling Milky Way. Those lucky visitors might see 30 or more meteors per hour, experts say.
The forecast for this summer’s viewing for the would-be astronomer is phenomenal.
Venus is often considered the Evening Star or the Morning Star. Until late September 2010, it will appear as a brilliant yellow star in the evening sky, right after sunset. Located 15 degrees above the western horizon one hour after sundown, it will remain in view until after 10:00 p.m.
Mars is also known as the Red Planet, although its color varies from rusty orange to gray. Mars can be found after sunset in the western sky, far upper left of Venus along the ecliptic.
Saturn will be in excellent position for observation until at least early July. Look for Saturn high in the southwest after sunset.
There are countless asteroids in our solar system, of which around 160,000 have names or identifying numbers. However, only Vesta, the fourth of the large asteroids becomes close and bright enough for us to spot with the unaided eye during the summer months. Mars, the brilliant star-like object in the west during early evening, serves as a good guidepost for locating it. Vesta is about 5 degrees north of the planet.
As the sky darkens on June evenings, a solar system visitor lies due north and more than one-third of the way from the horizon. Comet C/2009 K5 McNaught tracks through our sky. Glowing with the combined light of a 10th-magnitude star, the comet will be easily visible and should be seen until mid-July.
People spend a lot more leisure time outdoors during the summer months, so it is no wonder they observe more meteors at this time of the year. A June evening can be a great time to view a few shooting stars blazing across the sky. The only equipment you will need is your eyes and a modest amount of patience. The best meteor shower of June, terms of both sky position and meteor activity, is the June Bootid stream. This well known annual shower usually produces several visible meteors per hour.
The warm nights of June offer prime conditions for galaxy hunting. The winter Milky Way is lost in the glare of the Sun, while the star clouds of Cygnus and Sagittarius are just rising in the east. It is on these evenings that we have unobstructed views of what lies beyond our own galaxy.
Happy Gazing!