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Celestial
Events Calendar
June – Roman goddess, queen of the gods, patron of new brides, month of marriage, the month of young people (juniors)
Monday, May 31, 2004:
8:19 PM CDT – The Moon Is at its descending node. It is
crossing the plane of the Earth’s orbit
(ecliptic) and heading southeast
Wednesday, June 2, 2004:
11:40 PM CDT – Full Moon, rose, flower or
strawberry moon
Thursday, June 3, 2004:
8 AM CDT – The Moon is at perigee, its closest approach to
the Earth ~ 224,000 miles, Expect higher than normal tides due to the proximity
of perigee with the full moon.
4 PM CDT – Asteroid 6 Hebe is 0.14o south of the
center of the beehive
Monday, June 7, 2004:
Arietid “radio” meteor shower
10 AM CDT – Venus is at its descending node. Its orbit is
taking Venus through the ecliptic plane and heading southwest.
Tuesday, June 8, 2004:
4 AM CDT – Venus is at inferior conjunction with the Sun,
that is, it is between the Earth and the Sun and is moving from the evening sky
to the morning sky.
Wednesday June 9, 2004:
Zeta Perseid “radio” meteor shower
3:03 PM CDT – Last Quarter Moon
Thursday, June 10, 2004:
4 PM CDT – Uranus is stationary relative to the stars (in
right ascension). It stops its normal eastward motion (prograde) and begins
westward motion (retrograde).
Friday, June 11, 2004:
6 AM CDT – The planet Pluto is at opposition.
The Earth is between the Sun and Pluto. Pluto rises at sunset and sets at
sunrise. This is the best time of the year to view Pluto.
Saturday, June 12, 2004:
8 AM CDT – The planet Mercury is at ascending node, it is
crossing the plane of the Earth’s orbit and heading northwest.
12:00 PM – The midway point between sunrise and sunset is at
high noon (the equation of time is zero).
Sunday, June 13, 2004:
7 PM CDT – The Moon is at its ascending node.
Monday, June 14, 2004:
4:30 AAM CDT – Earliest sunrise
Tuesday, June 15, 2004:
June Lyrid meteor shower. The
closeness to the new moon makes this a good year for this minor shower, active
June 11 – June 21, ZHR max of 5 meteors/hour
Thursday, June 17, 2004:
12 AM CDT – The planet Mercury is at perihelion, the point
in its orbit where it is closest to the Sun ~ 29 million miles
11 AM CDT – The Moon is at apogee, the point in its orbit
where it is furthest from the Earth ~ 254,000 miles
3:28 PM CDT – New Moon, the beginning of
lunation cycle 1008
3 PM CDT – The planets Mars and Neptune are at heliocentric
opposition, that is, they are on opposite sides of the Sun
Friday, June 18, 2004:
4 PM CDT – The planet Mercury is at superior conjunction
with the Sun, that is, the Sun is between Mercury and the Earth. Mercury moves
from the morning into the evening sky.
Sunday, June 20, 2004:
7:57 PM CDT – Summer Solstice, longest day,
shortest night; The extension of the Earth’s equator into the sky is called the
celestial equator. On the summer solstice the Sun is as far north of the
celestial equator as it gets. The Sun
leaves the astrological sign of Gemini and enters the astrological sign of
Cancer.
Monday, June 21, 2004:
2 AM CDT – The Sun leaves the astronomical constellation of
Taurus and enters the astronomical constellation of Gemini (The summer solstice
is at 12:57 AM UT on this date)
Friday, June 25, 2004:
2:08 PM CDT – First Quarter Moon
7:30 PM CDT – 62nd Meeting of the North
Houston Astronomy Club – special program by JPL Cassini team member
Steve Edberg on the “Cassini Mission to Saturn”
Saturday, June 26, 2004:
6 PM CDT – Mercury is 2.1o north of Saturn in the
evening sky.
Sunday, June 27, 2004:
June Bootid meteor shower, active
June 26 – July 2, maximum ZHR = 100+ meteors/hour
Monday, June 28, 2004:
Beta Taurid “radio” meteor shower
4 AM CDT – the Moon is at its descending node
Tuesday, June 29, 2004:
9 AM CDT – Venus is stationary in right ascension (relative
to the stars), Venus ceases its westward (retrograde) motion relative to the
stars and begins its normal eastward (prograde) motion.