June 17
The Barking Star
Sun Position
The Sun is in Gemini, declination near +23.4°. Northern days are at their longest; the solstice is a few days away.
Sky Highlight
No major meteor shower peaks today. The northern sky's midsummer triangle (Vega, Deneb, and Altair) is now fully visible in the east after dark, rising progressively earlier with each passing night.
Deep Sky Object
M84 (NGC 4374), an elliptical galaxy / LINER roughly 55 million light-years away. M84 in Virgo is a large elliptical galaxy at the core of the Virgo Cluster with a massive black hole at its center; jets of relativistic plasma extending from the nucleus are detectable in radio wavelengths. Still accessible in June evenings from the Northern Hemisphere; Virgo is moving toward the west, so earlier in the evening is better.
Featured Star
Auva (δ Vir) is a red giant (M3III) about 202 light-years away in Virgo; its Arabic name is sometimes translated as 'the barker' or 'the yelper,' though the exact reasoning is obscure. A cool, deep-orange variable star in the goddess's body, its light slightly unsteady over weeks and months as its outer layers pulse.
Around This Date
- June 18, 1983Sally Ride became the first American woman in space, launched aboard STS-7 on the Space Shuttle Challenger.
- June 16, 1963Valentina Tereshkova of the Soviet Union became the first woman in space, orbiting Earth aboard Vostok 6.
A variable red giant named for a dog's bark, the sky's poets have always had their reasons.