06/28/2021 – Ephemeris – The summer Milky Way

This is Ephemeris for Monday, June 28th. Today the Sun will be up for 15 hours and 32 minutes, setting at 9:32, and it will rise tomorrow at 6:00. The Moon, 3 days before last quarter, will rise at 12:50 tomorrow morning.

Last night we had the latest sunset of the year. That’s great news for star gazers who like dark skies and the Sun is not among the stars they want to gaze at. But it won’t get noticeably darker earlier in the evening until late July. But when that does happen, the glory of the summer Milky Way becomes visible. On top of that, the peak night of the Perseid meteor shower, the night of August 11th and morning of the 12th. The three-day-old Moon that night won’t bother the meteor shower at all. The winter sky has the Milky Way also, but we are then looking out, away from the center of our galaxy. It’s hard to tell there’s a milky band there at all. In summer, we are looking toward the more populated parts of our galaxy. It’s a wonder to behold.

The astronomical event times given are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan (EDT, UT-4). They may be different for your location.

Addendum

The Milky Way from Cygnus to Scutum. This image, actually a stack of 5 images, was taken on August 12, 2018. I was hoping to record Perseid meteors. It was a poor showing, as none appeared in these images. We were hampered that year by smoke from the western US wildfires, which really affected the lower part of this image, which was still pretty high up in the sky, by giving it a red tinge. Featured here is the Great Rift, a series of dust clouds that split the Milky Way into two sections, subject of previous and future programs. Click on the image to enlarge. Credit: Bob Moler (me).