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 [Lively music]

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 [Preston Dyches]
 What's Up for June?

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 A planetary breakup,

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 prime viewing for a
 well-known star cluster

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 and the constellation Lyra.

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The gathering of four naked-eye
 planets we've been enjoying

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 in the morning sky
 for the past few months,

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 including several close
 conjunctions,

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 is beginning to break up.

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 Over the next few months,
 Saturn, Mars, Jupiter

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 and Venus will appear
 increasingly spread out

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 across the morning sky.

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So much so that Venus and Saturn
 will make their exits

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for most observers by September.
 as morning objects

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spaced out planetary procession
 Look for this increasingly

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 that the crescent moon jumps
 in June, and note

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 on the morning of the 23rd.
 into the lineup

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 [whoosh]

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 June is an excellent time
 to observe

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one of the best known globular
 star clusters, M13,

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 also known as the
 Hercules Cluster.

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 Globular clusters are
 spherical collections

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 of stars, tightly packed
 together in their centers.

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several hundred thousand stars.
 M13 itself contains

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 are also extremely old.
 Globular clusters

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 The stars in M13

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 are thought to be around
 12 billion years old,

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 which is approaching
the age of the universe itself.

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 Our home galaxy,
the Milky Way, is known to have

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 about 150 globular clusters.

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 They orbit outside the
 galaxy's disk, traveling

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 tens of thousands
 of light years above

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 and below its spiral arms
 and most of its stars.

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 Now, the Hercules cluster is
best observed with a telescope,

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 and larger telescopes

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 more of the cluster's stars.
 will allow you to see

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 But you can also find it
 with a pair of binoculars

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 where it'll look like
 a hazy little spot.

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 [music]

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in the constellation Hercules,
 Find M13

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 which is high in the east

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 in the first couple of hours
 after dark in June.

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First, look for the bright stars
 Vega and Arcturus.

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 Then find the four stars
 that comprise "the Keystone,"

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which is the pattern making up
 the central part of Hercules.

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 You'll find M13
 about a third of the way

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 between the two stars

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 on the western, or leading,
 side of the Keystone.

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So check out the great globular
 cluster in Hercules,

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M13, in June, and find yourself
 staring at an ancient

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 gathering of stars that soars
 high above the Milky Way.

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 [whoosh]

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 Finally, in June,
 a quick introduction

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 to one of the smaller

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 constellations that's home
to one of the brightest stars.

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That's the constellation Lyra.

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It represents a lyre, or harp,

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played by the musician Orpheus
 in Greek mythology.

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 In Arab cultures,
 as well as ancient

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 Egypt and India,
 Lyra was seen as an eagle.

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 And the Inca of South America
 saw it as a llama.

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which is the westernmost of the
Find Lyra by looking for Vega,

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 in the Summer Triangle.
 three bright stars

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 In the Northern Hemisphere,

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 you'll find it
 halfway up the eastern sky

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 in the first couple
 of hours after dark in June.

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 Vega is by far
 the brightest star in Lyra.

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 It's the fifth brightest star
 in the sky

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 and the second brightest
 in the Northern Hemisphere,

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 after Sirius.

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A pair of binoculars will help
you see the other stars in Lyra,

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 which form
 a sort of parallelogram

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 hanging beneath it.

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 It's sometimes described
 as looking a bit

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 like a diamond ring
 with Vega as the diamond.

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 And that's not the only
 ring in Lyra.

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 It's also home to the famous
 Ring Nebula,

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 where a star has blown off
 most of its outer layers,

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 leaving behind a remnant star
 known as a white dwarf.

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 So let the bright star
 Vega lead you

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 to Lyra, the harp
constellation, in the June sky.

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 And if you see it as an eagle
or a diamond ring, or a llama,

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well, that's perfectly OK, too.

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 Here are the phases
 of the Moon for June.

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 Stay up to date
 with all of NASA's missions

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 to explore the solar system
 and beyond at NASA.gov.

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I'm Preston Dyches from NASA's
 Jet Propulsion Laboratory

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 and that's
 What's Up for this month.

