June 25
The Future Pole
Sun Position
The Sun is in Cancer, declination near +23.3°. Northern days are shortening slowly; the sky is deep midsummer.
Sky Highlight
No major meteor shower peaks today. Vega is now climbing well up in the northeast after dark, bright enough to catch the eye even through suburban light pollution. With Deneb and Altair, it anchors the Summer Triangle, a useful map of the midsummer sky for northern observers.
Deep Sky Object
M56 (NGC 6779), a globular cluster about 32,900 light-years away. M56 in Lyra is a modest, somewhat loose globular cluster that sits between Vega and Albireo, making it easy to locate; it was the first object Messier confirmed after creating his catalog, and it rewarded him with a nova in 1779, though the nova proved to be unrelated. Well-placed from northern latitudes through the summer; lower from southern mid-latitudes.
Featured Star
Vega (α Lyr) is a main-sequence A-type star (A0Va) just 25 light-years away, brilliant and close; it is a near-perfect example of an A-type main-sequence star and has served as one of the primary calibration references for stellar photometry for over a century. In 12,000 years, precession will bring the celestial north pole within a few degrees of Vega.
Around This Date
- June 25, 1997An uncrewed Progress M-34 cargo spacecraft collided with Mir's Spektr module during a manual docking rehearsal, puncturing the hull and forcing the crew to seal off and permanently abandon the module.
- June 27, 1995Space Shuttle Atlantis docked with Mir on the STS-71 mission, the first Shuttle-Mir docking and the start of a joint program that laid groundwork for the International Space Station.
Twenty-five light-years: close enough that the light you see left Vega after you were likely already born.