June 23 - Full Moon, Huge and Opaque 'Something'

June 23 June Full Moon, Huge and Opaque 'Something' by:

A full moon rising over 42nd Street in New York City on June 28, 2018, as captured by Steve Scanlon of Weehawken, New Jersey.

June full moon mimics December sun Watch for a nearly full moon tonight. Full moon comes tomorrow at 18:39 UTC. That's the instant the moon will be most opposite the sun for this month, with its lighted face - its day side - aimed at us most directly. In North America, we often call the June full moon the Rose Moon, Flower Moon, or Strawberry Moon. It's the first of 4 full moons between now and the September equinox. The 3rd of those 4 will be called a Blue Moon. See below and read more. Huge and opaque 'something' dims giant star Remember Tabby's Star? Spotted it in 2015. it was dimming rapidly, in weird and unexpected ways. The theories for its unusual behavior ranged from alien megastructures to clouds of dust. Now dust does seem to be the culprit. This month, astronomers released a new study about a new and even bigger mystery (literally). It's a huge and opaque 'something' that dimmed the brightness of a giant star by up to 97% over a period of about 200 days. Even the largest dips in the brightness of Tabby's Star reached only about 22%. Is it dust again? What else could it be? The late June evening sky is rich A beautiful chart showing tonight's sky just after sunset, with Venus blazing in the west and the planet Mars near the Beehive star cluster. Chart-maker extraordinaire Guy Ottewell made it, along with a chart showing the planets as viewed from above the solar system now. See the charts and read more from Guy. What's a Blue Moon, and when's the next one? Our last Blue Moon came on October 31, 2020, the night of Halloween. It was called a Blue Moon because it was the 2nd of 2 full moons in a single month. A Blue Moon can also be the 3rd of 4 full moons in a single season. The next Blue Moon will be this seasonal sort, and it'll happen on August 22, 2021. Blue Moon history and folklore here.

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Analemma shows the sun's path over a year EarthSky community member Rick Williams of Woodland, California created an analemma - showing the path of the sun at noon - on the wall of his house. The analemma is that figure-8 pattern. Rick created it by marking the reflected light of the sun at a particular time of day (often noon) over the course of a year. In Rick's image, there's a bright circle of light at the top of the figure-8. It's the reflected light of the sun on June 20, as it reached its northernmost point in Earth's sky. Thank you, Rick! Everyone here agrees ... we want one! View at EarthSky Community Photos.

Analemma of the moon, from Hong Kong View at EarthSky Community Photos. | A lunar analemma is the figure-8 shape traced by the moon if photographed at the same time of day over a period of a month. It’s a project that requires patience, commitment, and time to capture, which is exactly what Matthew Chin executed with his submission on June 19, from Yuen Long, Hong Kong. He wrote: “We can photograph the moon 50 minutes and 29 seconds (1.035028 days) later on successive days to capture a figure-8 curve in 27 days. This is the lunar analemma. It will be a bit different in shape in every month, at east or west side and in different countries on the Earth.” Great work, Matthew! We appreciate your submission and share your awe at the beauty of our natural satellite. Submit your photo to EarthSky here! Subscribe & Support Did a friend forward EarthSkyNews to you? Click here to get your own subscription. Want to help support EarthSky? Forward this email to a friend. Share our content via your social media. Consider a donation. Go shopping at the EarthSky Store. Thank you for your support!

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