A guide to sky-watching from summer to autumn
Now that we've marked the summer solstice, it's the shorter nights of the year for the Northern Hemisphere that usher in a variety of celestial delights for sky-watchers who don't mind staying up until the early morning hours.
Between now and the autumnal equinox, we are treated to the ghostly beauty of the summer Milky Way, a spectacular conjunction of the two brightest planets in the sky and the annual display of the Perseids meteor shower.
Astronomical summer begins with the summer solstice, which was officially marked on June 20 at 10:42 p.m. Eastern time.
This moment marked the Sun's highest excursion into the Northern Hemisphere sky, and for residents in the northern half of the globe, it brings the shortest nights of the year.
Here in Washington we experience 9 hours and 6 minutes between sunset and sunrise for a couple of days on either side of the 20th day. Due to the slightly elliptical shape of Earth's orbit around the sun, we have already experienced the year's earliest sunrise, but the latest sunset won't occur until June 27, when Old Sol slips below the horizon at 8:38 p.m. Eastern time.
The summer solstice has been an important calendar marker for humans for thousands of years. Evidence of this is found in ancient monuments and sacred sites throughout the earliest recorded histories of early civilizations.
Perhaps the most famous of these is Stonehenge in England, a site occupied and developed by neolithic people over the course of a thousand years. It began around 3100 B.C. as a simple circular trench cut into the chalk of the Salisbury plains, with a long trench pointing to the direction of midsummer sunrise. The stone structure that we now see was added over the next millennium, turning the site into a sophisticated astronomical computer to determine the equinoxes and solstices.
From ancient Mesopotamia to the Desert Southwest of the United States and sites in Mesoamerica, the importance of observing the solstice and related phenomena was vital to the survival of our distant ancestors.
There will be three full moons during this season. They will fall on July 10, Aug. 9 and Sept. 7.
July's full moon is known as the buck moon since male deer and other related species begin to grow antlers for the fall mating season. It is also known as the thunder moon due to the typical weather of midsummer afternoons.
August brings us the sturgeon moon, so named because of the great number of these large fish that are found in the Great Lakes at this time of the year.
September's full moon is usually dubbed the harvest moon, but this year that title belongs to October's full moon, which occurs closest to the autumnal equinox. This year the full moon of September is the corn moon, a celebration of one of the most important crops in the annual harvest.
The corn moon will offer residents of Europe, Africa and especially Asia a total lunar eclipse.
Unfortunately this event won't be visible from any part of the United States, but we won't have to wait too long to see one from our shores — mark your calendars for the early morning hours of March 3, 2026.
Summer begins with only one planet in the evening sky: Mars.
The Red Planet is wending its way eastward among the stars of spring in the western sky. On the night of the solstice, Mars may be found just east of the bright star Regulus in the constellation of Leo, the lion. By mid-September it will be close to the bright blue star Spica in Virgo as evening twilight falls.
Night owls will find Saturn rising in the east after midnight in late June. By mid-August, the ringed planet rises at the end of evening twilight and is the prominent yellow-hued glow below the 'great square' asterism of Pegasus.
By the time of the equinox, Saturn will be an easy evening target for telescope owners. This is a particularly interesting time to view Saturn, as it underwent one of its own equinoxes back on May 6. This occurs twice in its 30-year trek around the sun, and when the sun crosses the plane of Saturn's rings, they effectively disappear.
Through the telescope, the rings will appear as spikes on either side of the planet, gradually becoming thinner into the fall as Earth approaches their orbital plane.
The two brightest planets, Venus and Jupiter, remain in the morning sky throughout the season. Venus rises at around 3:30 p.m. Eastern time and is a bright beacon in the gathering morning twilight. Jupiter enters the morning sky in early August to join Venus, and on the morning of Aug. 12, the pair are less than one degree apart. A week later, Mercury will appear low in the east below the bright pair.
The morning hours of Aug. 12 will put on quite a show.
In addition to the conjunction of Venus and Jupiter, Saturn will be just to the east of the waning gibbous moon. The latter puts something of a damper on the annual Perseids meteor shower, but if you're on vacation at a dark site — like the beach or the mountains — take some time to see if you can spot some of the shower's brighter members.
Many of the Perseids are like fireballs that can appear as bright as Jupiter or Venus. You might have to wait about 10 to 15 minutes to see one, but when you do it's quite a show.
The summer sky has a number of bright stars that form easily recognizable patterns.
The easiest of these to spot are the members of the summer triangle, consisting of Vega, Altair and Deneb. Each of these stars lead their own constellations, with the most distinctive being Cygnus, the Swan, where Deneb marks its 'tail.' The Swan's 'head' is marked by a gold-hued star that lies almost in the middle of the triangle. This is Albireo, perhaps the most beautiful double star in the sky. It can be resolved with almost any telescope, and the color contrast between its blue and yellow components is striking.
You'll notice the luminous band of the summer Milky Way piercing the heart of the triangle on a moonless night from a dark location. Follow it to the south to locate the constellation of Scorpius with its distinctive red star Antares. A clear southern horizon will reveal the constellation's namesake shape.
To the east of the Scorpion, look for the 'teapot' asterism of the constellation Sagittarius, the Archer. Use binoculars to pan northward from the teapot's 'spout' to reveal star clusters and glowing gaseous nebulae — this is my favorite place to spend those summer nights.
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