The Sky This Month, June
Signs of Harvest, A Cameo by the Lord of the Rings, and More!
Starting this month, Nakshatra will come out with a monthly article series, ‘The Sky This Month’, highlighting significant celestial events that take place each month. Happy reading!
A few thousand years ago, as language flourished and discoveries were made that left people ever more curious, one thing never ceased to amaze mankind: the skies. From an astronomer at the steps of a Mayan temple mapping the stars, to a hunter at a settlement in the Kalahari desert looking for signs from his ancestors, or even a child trying to grab the Moon’s reflection from a puddle of water in India, one thing lit their eyes with wonder, the fascination of the endless skies. As like any other human, I too was spellbound to the charm of the night skies, not that I don’t love the Sun or anything. Though, I realized as a kid that looking directly at the Sun for a while makes your eyes go 'owww’.
The stars are a brilliant sight to behold. Well, if only the Moon did not take the center stage in all her brightness, we could see a lot more of them, isn’t it? Aha, worry not! For on the thirteenth of this month, the Moon isn’t illuminated by the Sun at night. This new moon night is one of the perfect times to get out and bask in the glow of a billion fuzzy fusion bombs held stably by the gentle hug of gravity.
Well you better not waste any time! With the coming of the summer solstice the nights are getting shorter and shorter. On the twenty first of this month, you can enjoy the longest day of the year, the summer solstice. The Sun on this day reaches its highest apex ever, and will rise a little northeast and set a little southwest than usual. This creates the longest sunny day of the year and marks the first of happy summer days according to many traditions. (This, of course, applies only to the Northern Hemisphere. To the folks who live down south, it is the winter solstice, with exactly the opposite conditions.)
The skies bring more than just stars to behold. At this time of the year, we are served another delicacy to feast our eyes upon. On the twenty seventh we can see Saturn on the night sky as it gets fully illuminated by the sun and is on it’s closest approach to earth. Just an average telescope will let you see it’s splendid rings and perhaps it’s moons if you’re blessed with a clear sky. The ancient Greeks and Romans named this beautiful planet after their god of agriculture.
As berries ripen and farmers reap their bountiful harvest, a big pink full moon greets them from the horizon of the night sky on the twenty eighth. Given its color, the tribes in North America called it the 'Strawberry Moon' and as it rises further becoming a golden yellow, some called it the 'Full Honey Moon’. In other parts of the world, musk roses bloom and release their sweet scent to add to the mood of fervent moongazers, and hence it takes yet another name, the 'Rose Moon’. The cycles of the Moon were (and are) very important to keep track of the seasons to make the best of the Earth’s rich soil. With this particular full moon, harvest time is marked.
So there you have it, the best sights in the skies of this month. Wishing you clear nights and an abundant harvest!
