Summer Stargazing

It’s Upon Us

If you are reading this from somewhere in the Northern Hemisphere, then you’re getting ready for summer. It starts in a few weeks, but summer stargazing is already upon us. If you want to know more about what’s up, browse on over to Astrocast.TV, where I do a monthly webcast about what’s up. It’s called “Our Night Sky”.  There’s a lot going on in June, but what will catch your eye right after sunset the first week of the month is the appearance of Jupiter, Venus, and Mercury low in the western sky.  Check those out — in fact, you probably can’t miss them!

After that, it’s pretty much up to you where you want to look in the sky. The Big Dipper (the Plough for some folks) is high in the north. You can also look up overhead and see Hercules high in the east. Leo is setting in the west, and Virgo is due south.

Looking for some help to find things in the sky?  You can always check out the websites at Sky & Telescope and Astronomy for useful star charts. If you have a smart phone, there are any number of wonderful apps that can guide you across the sky. I use one called Starmap on my iPhone and iPad. I’ll be writing more about that one soon.

On your computer, you can generate nice star charts using free programs such as Stellarium or Cartes du Ciel.  You simply put in your location, time and date, out come some nice charts that help you find things in the sky.

Astronomy is our oldest science. People have been stargazing for millennia. So, when you step outside tonight and look up, you’re following in a long, honorable, and ancient tradition that introduces you to the universe. Get out there!