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Activities

Astronomy

Big Dipper

The dark night skies at Sly Park allow us to have fantastic views of planets, stars, and the Moon. Galaxies, nebula, and other deep space objects are also visible. Pictured here is the constellation Ursa Major, better known as the "Big Dipper."

Observatory

The Sly Park observatory houses ten telescopes: An 11" Celestron, a 17 1/2 " newtonian, two 8" newtonians and six 6" reflectors. During the daytime, the sunspots and solar prominences can be seen with our hydrogen alpha filter.

Planetarium

The Starlab planetarium projects the night sky indoors where students learn about constellations, legends from many different cultures, and concepts that help them understand astronomy.

June 2008

The start of summer brings the latest sunsets and shortest nights of the year, so although more people spend more time outdoors, they may not get to see more of the night sky. Even so, there's lots to look at this month, with Mars and Saturn congregating around Leo and Jupiter highlighting the early morning. The dense inner regions of the Milky Way start wheeling into view, too. So it's a good time to turn off the porch light and take in the view of the heavens.

7-9 The Moon forms beautiful arrays with Mars, Saturn, and Regulus. Bright orange Mars is just to the right of the Moon on the 7th. Regulus and Saturn are quite close to the Moon on the 8th. And on the 9th, they form a long line, with the Moon at left, Saturn and Regulus in the middle, and Mars on the right.

16-17 The Moon swings past Antares, the brightest star of Scorpius. Antares stands just to the left or upper left of the Moon on the 16th, and farther to its upper right on the 17th.

20-21 Jupiter teams up with the waning gibbous Moon in the morning sky. They climb into view by around 11 p.m. (on the 19th and 20th), and are low in the southwest at sunrise. 20 Summer solstice occurs at 6:59 p.m. CDT. This is the longest day of the year in the northern hemisphere and marks the SunŐs northernmost point in the sky.

24 Saturn, Regulus, and Mars (from left to right) form a tight, equally spaced line in the west. Mars will move closer to Regulus over the next few evenings.

30 Mars will pass within about one degree of Regulus, the brightest star of Leo. Mars, which is the brighter of the two, is to the right. Saturn is just above them. .

Sacramento County Office of Education

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