Tonight's Sky: June

Produced by the Space Telescope Science Institute's Office of Public Outreach in collaboration with NASA's Universe of Learning Partners, CalTech IPAC, NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory, and Sonoma State University.
Starfield images created with Stellarium.
Mythological constellations from Firmamentium Sobiescanium sive Uranographilia by Johannes Hevelius, courtesy of the United States Naval Observatory.  

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 Text, June. Tonight's sky. Constellations. Stylized drawings of a lion, a ram, and a bull. 

North, 10 PM. Looking up into a night sky filled with stars. Text, The balmy nights of June are short, but filled with fine sights for the backyard stargazer. A constellation formed by a body, four legs, a pointed head and a long tail. A drawing of a bear appears over the constellation. Text, Ursa Major. Look for the Big Dipper riding high in the northwest. The hindquarters and tail of the bear form a square ladle with a long handle. Text, Its handle points toward Arcturus, the fourth brightest star in the night sky. 

A constellation shaped like an irregular diamond with two small protruding lines from the bottom point. Arcturus sits at the point. Text, Arcturus is part of the constellation Boötes, the herdsman. A drawing of a man holding a club and rope appears over the constellation. Text, Boötes also contains a double star called Epsilon Boötis or Izar. Ground-based view, a bright yellow star and a smaller blue star appearing to touch. Text, The striking pair of stars appears yellow-orange and bluish in a modest telescope. 

A small U-shaped constellation. Text, To the left of Boötes sits a semicircle of stars known as Corona Borealis, the Northern Crown. A drawing of an ornate crown appears over the constellation. 

A constellation shaped like a body with splayed arms and legs. Text, Next to Corona Borealis, we find the dim constellation of a bright hero, Hercules, the strongman of Greek myth. A drawing of a nude, muscular man battling a many-headed snake with a club appears over the constellation. Text, Near the center of the constellation is a trapezoid known as the Keystone. 

The Keystone is essential to finding the great star cluster in Hercules, a globular star cluster containing hundreds and thousands of densely-packed stars. Ground-based view, a tight cluster of stars creating a bright white point that diffuses into black. 

Zoom in on the cluster. An expansive cluster of stars so close that little black space appears behind them. The stars vary in size and shine in yellow, white, and blue tones. Text, Hubble Space Telescope visible light. Globular star clusters contain among the oldest stars in our galaxy. All of the stars within a globular cluster formed around the same time. With NASA's Hubble Space Telescope we can observe these old stars individually and compare how stars of different masses change as they age. 

Just outside of the Keystone sits another globular cluster, M92. Ground-based view, a tightly packed cluster of stars with diffuse edges. Text, M92 is more distant than the Hercules Cluster and looks smaller and fainter through a telescope. 

Zoom in on the cluster. Thousands of white, yellow, red, and blue stars shining so close together at the center of the cluster they almost appear to touch. Text, Visible light. An image from Hubble shows many bright old red giant stars in its crowded core. 

North of Hercules, breathing fire on his feet lies Draco the Dragon. A long snaking line-shaped constellation with a small irregular square head. Text, Draco's long body curls around the Little Dipper. A constellation shaped like a small square ladle with a long handle. A drawing of a fanged dragon with a long coiling snake-like body appears over the Draco constellation. Text, Located along the dragon's coils is NGC 6543, the Cat's Eye Nebula, a cloud of expanding, glowing gas from a dying star. Ground-based view, a round bright nebula. Zoom in on the nebula, a central bright white point surrounded by blooming clouds of bluish purple and reddish gas. Text, NASA's Hubble and Chandra space telescopes bring the Cat's Eye into detailed view. Red and purple represent visible light emitted by shells of hot gas thrown off by the star. The blue is X-ray emission from hot gas surrounding the white dwarf star that remains at its core. 

You don't need cat's eyes to find the treasure of the June sky, just a dark night, your own eyes, and binoculars or a small telescope to enhance the view. Celestial wonders await you in Tonight's Sky.