Transcript for June 19th to 25th

RACHEL
Welcome to Idaho Skies for the third week of June. We’re your hosts, Rachel...

PAUL
...and Paul.

RACHEL
The moon is close to Saturn on the night of the 18th and morning of the 19th.

PAUL
That night, Saturn appears as the yellow-white star to the moon’s lower right.

RACHEL
You’ll need at least a spotting scope or small telescope to see its rings and largest satellite, Titan.

PAUL
Your telescope needs a magnification of at least 25 power.

RACHEL
In a telescope, Titan will appear as a star to Saturn’s lower left on the 18th and 19th.

PAUL
Titan rapidly changes its position with respect to Saturn each night.

RACHEL
The reason for the rapid change is that it only takes Titan 16 days to orbit Saturn.

PAUL
Which is only half as long as it takes the moon to orbit Earth.

RACHEL
Titan is perpetually cloud covered.

PAUL
Sadly, that means there’s no majestic view of Saturn in Titan’s sky.

RACHEL
Only a hazy pumpkin-colored sky.

PAUL
If Saturn were visible on Titan however, the planet would appear 10 times larger than our moon appears to us.

RACHEL
Late on the 19th and after midnight on the 20th you’ll find lots of nebulae and star clusters strewn about the moon’s left side.

PAUL
Star clusters and nebulae are concentrated in this part of the sky because it’s towards our galaxy’s stellar-rich center.

RACHEL
But don’t worry if you can scan this region with binoculars on the 20th.

PAUL
Because you’ll find the same region to the moon’s right on the 21st.

RACHEL
The moon is full on the 20th.

PAUL
The full moon in June is often called the Strawberry Moon.

RACHEL
It’s also the Summer Solstice on the 20th.

PAUL
Hey, that means it’s the first day of summer.

RACHEL
Did you know that solstice means sun standing still?

PAUL
I did.

RACHEL
It gets this name because when you watch the sun’s setting location on the horizon, it appears to stop moving around this time of the year.

PAUL
In fact, around the day of the solstice, the sun sets its farthest position north.

RACHEL
Also on the first day of summer, the length of day is its longest and the night it’s shortest.

PAUL
But that’s not the same thing as the earliest sunrise or latest sunset.

RACHEL
The earliest sunrise occurs about a week earlier than the solstice and the latest sunset occurs a week later.

PAUL
Capricornus the Sea-goat is a large constellation.

RACHEL
But it’s not made up of very bright stars.

PAUL
That means it easier to locate when the moon passes through it.

RACHEL
And that happens on the night of the 23rd.

PAUL
Go to a dark location if you want to find Capricornus.

RACHEL
Capricornus will look more like a big grin than it does a mix of goat and fish.

PAUL
And the moon is located on the upper-right lip of Capricornus.

RACHEL
That’s Idaho Skies for the third week of June. Next week we’ll tell you about a lunar occultation that you can observe from Boise.

PAUL
Be sure to follow us on Twitter at Idaho Skies for this week’s event reminders and sky maps.

For Idaho Skies this is Paul...

RACHEL
...and Rachel.

PAUL
Dark skies and bright stars.