Night sky events in June 2021

by Puviarasan | June 2021

We are in the midst of the second wave of the pandemic in India. Everything around us has been in a pause, but nature does not wait for anyone. It goes on with its business as usual. Here are a few free gifts from nature for the month of June. Enjoy them from your home!

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Solar Eclipse

An annular solar eclipse occurs when the Moon is too far away from the Earth to completely cover the Sun. This results in a ring of light around the darkened Moon. The Sun’s corona is not visible during an annular eclipse. On June 10th, the world will experience the phenomenon of Solar eclipse. The path in which the eclipse will be seen is confined to the top most part of the world i.e., eastern Russia, the Arctic Ocean, western Greenland, and Canada. A partial eclipse will be seen in the rest of world (mostly northern hemisphere). In India. the partial eclipse will be visible only from few parts like Arunachal Pradesh and Ladakh between 1:42 PM and 6:41 PM (IST). The rest of the country would have to wait until the next partial eclipse that India would see on 25 Oct 2022.

If you are anywhere in between the red line, you will be able to enjoy the solar eclipse witnessing the Ring of Fire. However as you move outside the red line, you will be able to see only a partial solar eclipse.

So for us in Asia and India, we will be able to see a partial eclipse at Sunset.

image credit – Alyn Wallace

The solar eclipse that could be seen on 25 Oct 2022 will look something like this. PC – https://www.timeanddate.com/

Caution – Do not see the solar eclipse in bare eyes.

Moon & Mars close to each other

On June 14, the moon and mars will share an important position in our night sky. In India the duo will be visible from around 19:38 IST just above the Western horizon and will fade away into the horizon after 21:59 IST.

Summer solstice

21st June will the longest day in 2021 in the Northern Hemisphere. This is the first day of summer (summer solstice) in the Northern Hemisphere and the first day of winter (winter solstice) in the Southern Hemisphere.

Last super moon

The Moon will be located on the opposite side of the Earth as the Sun and its face will be fully illuminated. This phase occurs at midnight (i.e., 25 June 00:10am) IST but the moon rises at 19:11 (24 June) IST to give you a glimpse of the super moon. This is also the last of three super moons for 2021. The Moon will be near its closest approach to the Earth and may look slightly larger and brighter than usual.

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