June 6
The Peculiar Heart
Sun Position
The Sun is in Gemini, declination near +23°. Northern days are close to the solstice peak; southern nights are well into winter length.
Sky Highlight
No major meteor shower peaks today. The evening sky in the Northern Hemisphere still holds Virgo and Boötes high overhead, while Scorpius and Ophiuchus are climbing in the south, a sky divided between the soft galactic haze of late spring and the richer star fields of summer.
Deep Sky Object
M3 (NGC 5272), a globular cluster about 33,900 light-years away. M3 in Canes Venatici is one of the largest and most star-rich globular clusters known, containing an unusually high number of RR Lyrae variable stars that serve as standard candles for distance measurement. Excellent for both hemispheres through late spring and early summer; visible in binoculars as a compact glow, resolved at the edges in a small telescope.
Featured Star
Cor Caroli (α² CVn) is a chemically peculiar A-type star (A0pSiEuHg) about 110 light-years away, prototype of the α² Canum Venaticorum class, stars with unusually strong lines of silicon, europium, and mercury caused by magnetic fields that concentrate elements in their atmospheres. Its light varies subtly as the star rotates, carrying its spotted surface in and out of view.
Around This Date
- June 8, 2004The first Transit of Venus in 122 years was observed by millions of people, marking the beginning of the 2004–2012 transit pair.
- June 6, 1932Carl D. Anderson reported evidence of the positron, the first confirmed antimatter particle, discovered in cosmic ray tracks in a cloud chamber, a result announced formally in September but based on photographs from this period.
A spotted, magnetically strange star named for a king, the sky has always kept odd company.