June 2
The Twin Suns
Sun Position
The Sun is in Gemini, declination near +22°. Northern days remain long; the Southern Hemisphere is near its shortest days of the year.
Sky Highlight
No major shower peaks today. The Ophiuchid radiant remains active at low rates. June evenings offer long twilight in the north, compressing the useful observing window but rewarding patience with a deep, settled sky.
Deep Sky Object
M104 (Sombrero Galaxy), a spiral galaxy roughly 29 million light-years away. The Sombrero Galaxy in Virgo displays a striking dark dust lane bisecting its bright nucleus, making it one of the most photographed galaxies in the sky despite requiring a telescope to see well. Best seen from mid-northern and southern latitudes in late spring through early summer evenings; it transits well in June.
Featured Star
Porrima (γ Vir) is a matched pair of yellow-white main-sequence stars (F0V + F0V) about 38 light-years away, orbiting each other on a 169-year cycle, close enough that a small telescope separates them depending on where the pair stands in its orbit. Named for a Roman goddess of prophecy, it offers the quiet revelation of two nearly identical suns bound together.
Around This Date
- June 2, 1966Surveyor 1 made the first American soft landing on the Moon, validating that the lunar surface could safely support a crewed spacecraft.
- June 5, 1989Voyager 2's trajectory correction burn was confirmed, keeping it on course for its August 1989 Neptune flyby, the only spacecraft ever to visit the planet.
Two stars nearly alike have circled each other for longer than our civilization has had writing.