The planet Mars climbs into the dawn less than an hour before the sun.  Look for a pale pink speck rising into a pale sky in the east-northeast a little after 4 am.  It will hard to find (binoculars will help) but will rise a bit earlier each day to rule the morning skies later this summer.

Mercury and Venus remain bright evening planets, setting in the west-northwest about an hour and a half after the sun.  Venus, by far the brighter of the two, is easy to spot.  Look for Mercury's tiny sparkle just to the left of Venus.

Saturn will be almost due south as evening twilight fades.  On Tuesday the 18th, a fat gibbous moon will hover to the right of Saturn. The blue-white star Spica will be right of the moon.  On the morning of Saturday, July 6, a thin crescent moon will rise next to Mars. Look for them between 4:30 and 5 am and you may be lucky enough to catch Jupiter sneaking up below them.

The International Space Station will make several more passes over our area this week and bright Iridium flares will continue to make startling appearances in a clear sky — assuming we have a clear sky to look into.  Both events are among those predicted in the Heavens Above site <http://www.heavens-above.com>.  Note, however ...

Oops:  I have described the Iridium flares as flashes of sunlight from the solar panels of the Iridium system of communications satellites.  I don't know if I read an incorrect description (possible), misremembered what I had read (more likely), or simply misunderstood some simple English (blush!), but I have been informed (Thanks, David!) that the flares result from sunlight reflecting from the flat phased-array antennas on the satellites, not the solar panels.  Alan Rohwer, a member of the Springfield Telescope Makers, was a lead engineer in the design study.

And finally:  The longest day for observers in the Northern Hemisphere, Planet Earth, will be June 20, lasting, at the latitude of central New Hampshire and Vermont, 15 hours, 27 minutes.  The summer solstice officially arrives very early the next day, 1:04 am EDT, on June 21.  Happy summer!


     Keep looking up!
     - Bob Hamlin
     <rhamlinatdartmouth.edu>





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