News of the Week

๐ŸŒ™ Moon

The Moon will reach its first quarter on Tuesday, June 3 at 5:41 CEST.
At the beginning of the week, it is in the constellation Leo, and on Sunday it appears between Mars and Regulus.

๐Ÿช Planets

  • Mercury (around โ€“1 mag): very low above the northwest at twilight, best observed by 10 PM at the latest.
  • Venus (โ€“4.3 mag): the brightest planet in the morning, just above the horizon, visible thanks to its high brightness.
  • Mars (1.4 mag): in the evening above the western horizon, clearly visible near the star Regulus in the constellation Leo.
  • Jupiter (โ€“1.9 mag): not visible now, approaching conjunction with the Sun, and will soon appear in SOHO's coronagraph.
  • Saturn (1.1 mag): already becoming fairly visible in the early morning.
  • Uranus (5.8 mag): not observable in the morning yet.
  • Neptune (7.9 mag): located near Saturn, but difficult to observe.

โ˜€๏ธ Sun

Solar activity has recently been high but is now decreasing again.
There are several active sunspot regions, but only one currently has potential for larger flares.
You can monitor sunspot activity on the latest SDO imagery.

More information:

๐ŸŒŒ Noctilucent Clouds (NLC)

Although Noctilucent Clouds lie at the boundary between astronomy and meteorology, astronomers take interest in them each year around the summer solstice.
They appear when ordinary clouds have already darkened, while these high-altitude, silvery wave-like structures still glow, illuminated by the Sun below the horizon, around 80 km high.

Best time to observe:

  • Evening: between 22:00 and 23:00
  • Morning: approximately after 2:30 AM

Author: Martin Gembec