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This is the Griffith Observatory Sky Report for the week ending Wednesday, June 18, 2014. Here is what’s happening in the skies of southern California:
The moon lights the night this week, and is full on Thursday, the 12th at 9:11 p.m., PDT. June’s full moon is also called the Strawberry moon. The moon displays a waning gibbous phase through the rest of the week, and rises at 11:53 p.m. on Tuesday, the 17th.
Brilliant planet Jupiter, in Gemini the Twins, is low in the west-northwest after sunset. Jupiter sets at about 10:00 p.m.
Orange planet Mars, in Virgo the Maiden, is midway between the southern horizon and the zenith (the point directly overhead) as darkness falls. Steady air currents and a powerful telescope can still allow a view of some details on the planet’s tiny (10-arcsecond-wide) disk. Careful examination will also reveal the planet’s gibbous phase, which resembles the moon’s phase two days before full. Mars sets in the west at about 2:00 a.m.
Golden Saturn gleams in Libra, the Scales. Saturn occupies the southeast sky at nightfall and crosses the meridian at about 10:00 p.m. The northern face of Saturn’s magnificent ring system is now titled 21 degrees from edge-on to our view. The planet, rings, and several of Saturn’s numerous moons are now featured through Griffith Observatory’s public telescopes.
Venus, the brightest planet, rises in the east-northeast at the start of dawn, By sunrise, Venus, then 22 degrees high, may still be glimpsed. A telescope will show the gibbous phase of Venus.
The twice-cancelled launch of the Orbcomm-OG2 communication satellite from Cape Canaveral Florida on a SpaceX Falcon 9 v1.1 rocket has been re-scheduled to Sunday, June 15, at 4:38 p.m., PDT. This will be the start of a 54-minute long launch window. The launch is of special interest because of the attempt that will be made to re-start and soft-land the discarded first-stage on to the surface of the Atlantic Ocean, a test that could provide information that will help develop re-usable and potentially less-expensive access to space. Watch live coverage of the launch on the SpaceX website.
Free views of the sun during the day and of the moon, planets, and other celestial objects at night are available to the public in clear weather through Griffith Observatory’s telescopes from Tuesday through Sunday before 9:30 p.m. Check our website for our schedule. The next public star party on the grounds of Griffith Observatory, hosted by the Los Angeles Astronomical Society, the Sidewalk Astronomers, and the Planetary Society, will take place on Saturday, July 5.
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From Griffith Observatory, I’m Anthony Cook and I can be reached at griffithobserver@gmail.com.