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Wednesday, June 3, 2020 The Nugget Newspaper, Sisters, Oregon
Stars over Sisters
By Zoey Lorusso/Lizzie Mccrystal
Correspondents
As the arrival of summer
is just around the corner, it
is not unreasonable to expect
warmer weather to be a more
frequent visitor to Central
Oregon. Accompanying
the more comfortable tem-
peratures are changes in our
night sky. So, while you9re
enjoying a slice of early sea-
son watermelon way past
your bedtime, don9t forget
to go outside and look up 4
for you might see something
amazing.
Constellation families
are groups of constellations
that are either located in the
same area of the sky, asso-
ciated with the same myth
or theme, or were created
at the same point in his-
tory. The featured constel-
lation for June is one of 10
other stellar groupings of the
Ursa Major Family, namely
Corona Borealis, which
is bordered by Hercules,
Serpens and Boötes.
Six of the constella-
tion9s brightest stars form
a semicircle known as the
Northern Crown. Alphecca
is the brightest star, glowing
at an apparent magnitude
of 2.23. On the magnitude
scale, the lower the num-
ber, the brighter the star.
Alphecca is an eclipsing
binary that lies at a distance
of approximately 75 light-
years. Nusakan, the second
brightest luminary in the
group at magnitude 3.28, is a
spectroscopic binary located
114 light-years away.
There are few deep sky
objects in the constellation
within range of telescopes
owned by most amateur
astronomers. But it does
contain the Corona Borealis
Galaxy Cluster. This cluster
is comprised of about 400
galaxies in one degree of
the sky. It is located between
1 to 1.5 billion light-years
from the earth.
In Greek legend Corona
Borealis is connected to the
myth of Princess Ariadne
of Crete. The ring of stars
that denote the crown was
worn by Princess Ariadne
when she married Dionysis.
Princess Ariadne is known
for helping Theseus slay the
Minotaur who was Ariadne9s
half-brother. The king ban-
ished the Minotaur to a
labyrinth from which no one
could escape.
When Theseus came
to Crete, he was put in the
labyrinth for the Minotaur
to eat. But Ariadne fell in
love with Theseus, so she
gave him a spool of string
to bring with him as he went
through the labyrinth. Once
he slew the Minotaur, he fol-
lowed the string out. After
his escape, he and Ariadne
sailed away from Crete.
Shortly thereafter, however,
Theseus abandoned her on
the isle of Naxos. Dionysis
found Ariadne weeping on
the island and they soon fell
in love and married.
Summer officially begins
in the Northern Hemisphere
at 2:44 p.m. on Saturday,
June 20. At that time, the
earth9s axis of rotation will
tip toward the sun, caus-
ing the noonday sun to lie
directly overhead at the
Tropic of Cancer. The result
is the longest period of day-
light hours of the year; not
good news if you9re want-
ing to get some evening
observing done before bed,
particularly when you throw
Daylight Saving Time into
the mix.
PHOTO COURTESY ADAM BLOCK/MOUNT LEMMON SKYCENTER/UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA
Spiral galaxy NGC 6085 in the upper left and elliptical galaxy NGC 6086 lower center of photo highlight a
number of more distant galaxies in the constellation of Corona Borealis.
Of the five naked-
eye planets, only elusive
Mercury occupies the eve-
ning sky this month. On
June 4 the diminutive planet
lingers above the western
horizon a full two hours after
the sun has set. However, by
mid-month Mercury will be
harder to spot as it sinks ever
closer to the sun.
The two biggest planets
in the solar system, Jupiter
and Saturn, will rise just
after midnight this month.
They currently reside near
the border of Sagittarius
and Capricornus. Both will
become evening planets next
month. Mars rises after 2
a.m. local time on June 1, an
hour earlier by month9s end.
After completely domi-
nating the evening celestial
stage with its brilliance over
the past several months,
Venus reaches inferior
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conjunction on June 3. It
will emerge in the morning
sky later in the month.
The Full Strawberry
Moon occurs on June 5.
The <strawberry moon=
got its name from Native
Americans in eastern North
America when they began
harvesting ripening wild
strawberries in June. After
this date, the face of the
moon becomes progres-
sively less illuminated
before going dark on June
20. A waxing moon is in
play for the remainder of the
month.