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SkyTour is your very own home planetarium show. Broadcast from a location "in the field" on WHYY-FM(90.9) FM in Philadelphia, SkyTour is a joint production of WHYY and The Franklin Institute Science Museum. To participate, strap on your personal headset radio, go out into your backyard, tune in the program and look up to the sky. We'll show how to identify constellations, stars, and planets, and if you have a question about something astronomical, call us from your yard on your cell phone during the show and we'll answer your question live on air!
On the next broadcast...
Live broadcast Wednesday, June 15, 9 - 10 p.m. Schuylkill Center for Environmental Education, Philadelphia, PA
Directions »
The summer sky...
Prominent in the sky in mid-June is the largest planet of the solar system, Jupiter. It stands high in the south at 9 p.m. Later in the month the other visible planets, Venus, Saturn and Mercury, gather together just ten degrees above the western horizon. Of the three, Venus is the only one moving eastward and climbing higher. The other two are sinking into sunset by month's end.
Just west of the center sky position at 9 p.m. is Virgo, a group dominated by its brightest star, Spica. To find Virgo and Spica use the handle of the well-known Big Dipper. The curving handle points down to orange-colored Arcturus, the bright star of the constellation Bootes. Extending that curve past Arcturus, you'll come to Spica. Notice that the bright object in Virgo isn't twinkling. It's not Spica, but Jupiter. To recognize the difference, remember stars twinkle, planets don't.
On the eastern horizon are the stars of the summer star groups, Cygnus and Lyra. About half way up in the east is Lyra's brightest star Vega, brightest of the summer sky. Below Vega and just a bit to the north is Deneb of Cygnus and the third brightest of the summer sky. It's the heart of the "S"-shaped star group, Scorpius. Rising later in the evening is the last of the major summer groups, Sagittarius. It is to the east or left of Scorpius and its stars are just as bright. Both are low in the southern sky but are quite prominent.
Derrick Pitts
Chief Astronomer, The Franklin Institute
Celestial map of the night sky »
Updated for the June 2005 broadcast. Map adapted from Sky and Telescope magazine, Sky Publishing Corporation. Used by permission.
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