What’s Up in the Night Sky? – June 2024

Fred Barrett | Jun 05, 2024

For thousands of years people have been fascinated with the aurora borealis or northern lights and its southern counter part, the southern lights (aurora australis). They are not exactly the same due to fluctuations in the Earth’s magnetic field, but the similar display that both present of rippling ribbons of light dancing across the night sky fill the eyes and brain with wonder. What are they? For all their beauty, their creation is a very violent event.

The flow of particles from the Sun, known as the solar wind, hit the upper atmosphere (ionosphere) of Earth with speeds in the order of 70 million kilometres per hour (kph). That’s an awful lot of energy. Luckily for us, Earth’s magnetic field protects us from serious consequences like being fried alive. The wonderful result is a display that bedazzles us all.

The Sun continuously throws off charged particles from its its upper atmosphere or Corona and this produces the solar wind that creates the aurora. Our magnetic field directs these dangerous particles towards our north and south poles. Their high energy interacts with our atmosphere and causes it to fluoresce. The absorption or radiation of colour depends on the type of atom or molecule that interacts with the solar wind. Red is a hue produced by nitrogen molecules while oxygen fluoresces as green.

Different shapes and motions of the aurora are created by the Sun’s constantly changing output as well as the motion of our planet and particles close to Earth. Auroras allow scientists to investigate many aspects of the Earth’s upper atmosphere and the strength of electric currents that flow high above us. These characteristics give us information on the dynamic changes in the Earth’s magnetic field and the part that aurora play in space weather.

The Sun has a roughly 11 year cycle of activity. At times the Sun can be calm, a lull with little activity. At other times vast bursts of activity like Coronal Mass Ejections (CME) can occur. A CME happens when a magnetic field line on the Sun disconnects due to the Sun’s rotation and a massive explosion results that ejects vast quantities of particles into space. If it is pointed in our direction, we are bombarded with tremendous amounts of energy and this results in very bright and frequent auroral activity that can even extend deep down towards the equator.

Lucky for aurora watchers, we are currently entering a solar maximum for solar cycle 25 and this means that the northern lights will be spectacular for the next year or so. This solar peak of activity will last roughly from 2024 to late 2025. The best time of year for aurora watchers is September through April between 9 pm and 3 am. when it’s the darkest. I scan the sky towards the northwest and north. If you are taking pictures, I find an exposure between 8 and 15 seconds to be productive.

One last thing. Increased solar activity not only brings beautiful, hypnotic aurora. When a CME occurs and it’s aimed at the Earth, it brings the possibility of massive blackouts when the high energy of the solar particles induces power surges in our electrical grid that causes shutdowns across the power network. We’ve seen those in recent times.

June presents 6 planets strung along the ecliptic before sunrise. They can be found by eye except for Mercury which is quite a challenge being close to the eastern horizon. Saturn and Neptune require binoculars. Jupiter, Mars and Saturn are quite visible. Jupiter and Mercury are very close to each other which should help in finding Mercury.

No meteor showers this month but looking up should provide a view of some nice sporadics.

Don’t forget that the 20th is summer solstice, the longest day of the year!

Highlights this month:

June 6: New Moon. June 14: First quarter Moon. The Moon is at apogee – 401,730 Kms. June 20: Summer Solstice occurs at 4:51 pm EDT. June 21: Full Moon. This is the Full Strawberry Moon. Also called the Full Rose Moon. I wait for this time every year – strawberry shortcake is about as close to heaven as I’ll ever get! I hear that roses are a nice sprinkle on some dishes but nothing compared to a plump strawberry with chocolate sauce. June 27: Moon at perigee – 367,142 Kms. June 28: Moon passes north of Neptune by 0.3 degrees at 5 am EDT. Last quarter Moon.

Have a great observing month and keep looking up!

Don’t forget to check out events at the North Frontenac Dark Sky site, or, as it’s known now, the North Frontenac Astronomy Park and also check the Lennox and Addington Dark Sky Viewing Area for observing opportunities in the coming months.

The Royal Astronomical Society of Canada (RASC) website https://rasc.ca has a listing of astronomy events for Ontario and the Kingston branch of the RASC website lists events happening, especially in our area.

Feel free to contact me with questions or observations at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

I would like to know how you have done with your observing. Meteors or auroras anyone?