Scheduled air date: 1999 Jun 14-20
Summer Solstice (the first day of Summer) occurs on June 21st (for the Northern
Hemisphere) and marks the point when the Sun appears farthest North. At the Tropic
of Cancer, the Sun will appear directly overhead at noon, and for most of the Northern
Hemisphere, this will mark the longest day and the shortest night of the year.
Leo—whose arrival in the Eastern sky after Sunset marked the beginning of
Spring—now exits in the Western sky, to be replaced by the Summer Triangle, an
asterism of three stars, each from a different constellation.
This year, the brilliance of Venus, Mars and the just-past-First-Quarter Moon will make
these stars seem less impressive, but they are some of the brightest in Earth's nighttime
sky!
(Shown just after dark on the evening of June 21st for mid-Northern latitudes.)
If you wish to view illustrations for other episodes, please see our Star Gazer Illustrated directory.
 |
Illustrations on this page were created using
TheSky Astronomy
Software, an advanced desktop planetarium program designed for Windows. Copyright © 1999-2006 by Software Bisque, Inc. |