The star and planet speckled night comes slowly in summer and the darkness that opens our view to the cosmos beyond our home planet is brief. To be enveloped by the glow of evening’s long twilight is a deeply stirring experience particular to summertime. The prologue, shortly after sunset, is alpenglow and about an hour later we are greeted by the appearance of most of the brightest stars and planets visible from Earth. Further, whether clear or cloudy, the land is lit by the season’s amazing insect light show. Fireflies! Blinking, streaking lightning bugs elicit in us the wonder of starlight and shooting stars close to the ground and up into the treetops.
Sunset is at 8:30 on the 13th and 8:20 on the 26th. The brightest stars appear about an hour later. Three corner stars shape the Summer Triangle which is stretched out across the eastern sky, suspended above the skyline. Vega (pronounced Veega), the second brightest star in our summer sky, is on top; Deneb is slightly below to the left and Altair well below and right of Vega.
Seek out brilliant Venus with Jupiter, now side by side and low in the west-northwest, the distance between them widening. Venus sets at 10:09 p.m. on the 13th and 9:11 p.m. on the 26th. An exquisite meeting of our stunning neighbor planet with a delicate crescent moon occurs on the 18th. Moonset is at 9:48 p.m. that day, so there is a narrow window of opportunity to see the event since it is a challenge to find near-horizon views in the Berkshire hills. Every evening, as twilight deepens, the constellation Leo the Lion’s brightest star, Regulus, along with Jupiter, form a charged grouping with Venus.
This schema nicely represents “arcing to Arcturus.
Courtesy https://earthsky.org/
High above in the west the season’s brightest star, red-orange Arcturus, shines in early twilight. It is visible as it travels the western sky until it sets at around 2 a.m. When the sky darkens, the stars of the Big Dipper emerge high in the west-northwest. Whenever you see the Big Dipper high in the sky, follow the curve of its handle to “Arc to Arcturus.”
Current / Upcoming Events:
Lead-up and follow-up to July 14 closest approach to Pluto by New Horizons spacecraft:
https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/newhorizons/main/index.html
https://www.space.com/29850-new-horizons-pluto-flyby-complete-coverage.html
https://www.vox.com/2015/7/9/8921713/pluto-mission-new-horizons-nasa-flyby
July 25  Mt. Greylock    https://www.mtgreylockstarparty.org
August 7 – 16Â Â Plainfield, MAÂ Â https://www.rocklandastronomy.com/ssp.html
August 13 – 16Â Â Springfield, VTÂ Â https://stellafane.org/
