ESA Diversity Perspective

Guest post by Ersilia Vaudo 

Ersilia Vaudo Scarpetta has been working at the European Space Agency since 1991 and she is currently Chief Diversity Officer.

Ersilia Vaudo | Credits: Zoe Vincent/Wired Italy

Today at Unispace+50, the role of women in space has been placed front and centre, and rightly so.

The topic of diversity and inclusiveness (D&I) has been recently placed high on ESA’s corporate agenda. Through this initiative, ESA intends to enhance its wealth of diversity, and at the same time ensure that the values and the objectives pursued through D&I actions become an inherent feature of the Agency’s policies and business practices.

Last September, as part of this effort, ESA’s commitment toward diversity and inclusiveness was made visible, reinforced and underlined in a policy statement that you read on ESA’s official website. The Agency’s final aim is to create and ensure a modern, inclusive working environment where people value diversity in teams, take others’ perspectives into account and feel comfortable being themselves – regardless of gender, gender identity and expression, age or working experience, sexual orientation, physical or mental challenges, ethnicity or educational, religious or social background.

Actually, diversity is already a distinctive feature of ESA and is one of its greatest assets – same as for its international character. People from 22 European member states (plus Canada and Slovenia as Cooperating State and Associate State, respectively) – speaking more than 18 different languages – work together, discussing and solving problems every day by combining their different cultural backgrounds. It is that richness of diversity, in competences, skills and points of view that allows us to achieve results that could be impossible to reach on the effort of single nations. The Agency has put a renewed effort into striving to enhance the innovative perspectives brought in by a diverse and gender-balanced pool of talent.

Among the different activities undertaken to foster diversity and inclusiveness at ESA, a special focus has been put in ensuring that space jobs are increasingly attractive to women in ESA member states.

In fact, we observe that, although space is recognised as one of the most inspirational sectors in science and technology in Europe, and the number of girls in science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM) is growing in member states, applications from women to ESA are are only holding steady. In addition, if the situation in Europe is improving in terms of girls graduating in STEM fields, this is still a ‘boys’ club’.

Furthermore, in terms of perspectives, we see that the number of women decreases along the different steps of a STEM career. It becomes therefore clear that we need to challenge stereotypes, become more proactive in promoting space jobs and work for the right conditions for retaining and ensuring career perspectives to women.

ESA is part of a number of external networks with other international organisations to promote discussions on these issues, exchanging ideas as well on current measures and best practices. It is with this aim that ESA has established a network with member states on diversity and inclusiveness, is part of the ad-hoc EIROforum Working Group on Diversity, and has initiated a collaboration with the OECD on the topic of gender and stereotypes in science. ESA is also corporate member of Women in Aerospace Europe.

Ersilia Vaudo | Credits: Zoe Vincent/Wired Italy

With the Agency facing a significant retirement wave coming over the next 10-15 years, this moment really represents the perfect occasion to project the ‘ESA of the future’ and to start injecting more diversity into the workforce.

ESA already has a long-standing commitment to promoting gender diversity and equal opportunities. Focusing on, and strongly committing to, the involvement of women in STEM is more important today than ever in order to continue and expand ESA’s enduring value – and enhance it in the future from a Space 4.0 perspective. In fact, in the next decades we will be more and more in need of a creative and diverse pool of talent to address challenges of the future.

With this overarching objective in mind, the Agency is now working to achieve measurable goals in terms of female recruitment and representation. For example, in terms of new recruitments we will be aiming at a minimum 30% of new positions filled by women by 2019. In addition, efforts have been put in place to increase the proportion of women in leadership positions, which is at ESA around 10%.

Furthermore, since the Agency receives a gender-balanced number of applications at the young-graduate level while the number of women interested in permanent jobs drops to about 20%, ESA is opening the early-career scheme also to people in their 30s with some years of working experience.

Finally, the Chief Diversity Officer and many of ESA’s female professionals regularly engage in branding and outreach activities to inspire girls and young women across Europe to enter STEM disciplines, encouraging in particular careers in science, engineering and space.

Indeed, at ESA we are sure that diversity will help us strengthen innovation, lessen resistance to change, obtain a broader understanding of societal needs, boost motivation, inspire people and foster knowledge sharing. Spurred on by the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), and in particular SDGs that aims at equal opportunities for all women and girls, ESA has a major objective to inspire the young generation of girls to enter the STEM field and in particular to attract more women to the wealth of careers and jobs that space can offer.



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Guest post by Ersilia Vaudo 

Ersilia Vaudo Scarpetta has been working at the European Space Agency since 1991 and she is currently Chief Diversity Officer.

Ersilia Vaudo | Credits: Zoe Vincent/Wired Italy

Today at Unispace+50, the role of women in space has been placed front and centre, and rightly so.

The topic of diversity and inclusiveness (D&I) has been recently placed high on ESA’s corporate agenda. Through this initiative, ESA intends to enhance its wealth of diversity, and at the same time ensure that the values and the objectives pursued through D&I actions become an inherent feature of the Agency’s policies and business practices.

Last September, as part of this effort, ESA’s commitment toward diversity and inclusiveness was made visible, reinforced and underlined in a policy statement that you read on ESA’s official website. The Agency’s final aim is to create and ensure a modern, inclusive working environment where people value diversity in teams, take others’ perspectives into account and feel comfortable being themselves – regardless of gender, gender identity and expression, age or working experience, sexual orientation, physical or mental challenges, ethnicity or educational, religious or social background.

Actually, diversity is already a distinctive feature of ESA and is one of its greatest assets – same as for its international character. People from 22 European member states (plus Canada and Slovenia as Cooperating State and Associate State, respectively) – speaking more than 18 different languages – work together, discussing and solving problems every day by combining their different cultural backgrounds. It is that richness of diversity, in competences, skills and points of view that allows us to achieve results that could be impossible to reach on the effort of single nations. The Agency has put a renewed effort into striving to enhance the innovative perspectives brought in by a diverse and gender-balanced pool of talent.

Among the different activities undertaken to foster diversity and inclusiveness at ESA, a special focus has been put in ensuring that space jobs are increasingly attractive to women in ESA member states.

In fact, we observe that, although space is recognised as one of the most inspirational sectors in science and technology in Europe, and the number of girls in science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM) is growing in member states, applications from women to ESA are are only holding steady. In addition, if the situation in Europe is improving in terms of girls graduating in STEM fields, this is still a ‘boys’ club’.

Furthermore, in terms of perspectives, we see that the number of women decreases along the different steps of a STEM career. It becomes therefore clear that we need to challenge stereotypes, become more proactive in promoting space jobs and work for the right conditions for retaining and ensuring career perspectives to women.

ESA is part of a number of external networks with other international organisations to promote discussions on these issues, exchanging ideas as well on current measures and best practices. It is with this aim that ESA has established a network with member states on diversity and inclusiveness, is part of the ad-hoc EIROforum Working Group on Diversity, and has initiated a collaboration with the OECD on the topic of gender and stereotypes in science. ESA is also corporate member of Women in Aerospace Europe.

Ersilia Vaudo | Credits: Zoe Vincent/Wired Italy

With the Agency facing a significant retirement wave coming over the next 10-15 years, this moment really represents the perfect occasion to project the ‘ESA of the future’ and to start injecting more diversity into the workforce.

ESA already has a long-standing commitment to promoting gender diversity and equal opportunities. Focusing on, and strongly committing to, the involvement of women in STEM is more important today than ever in order to continue and expand ESA’s enduring value – and enhance it in the future from a Space 4.0 perspective. In fact, in the next decades we will be more and more in need of a creative and diverse pool of talent to address challenges of the future.

With this overarching objective in mind, the Agency is now working to achieve measurable goals in terms of female recruitment and representation. For example, in terms of new recruitments we will be aiming at a minimum 30% of new positions filled by women by 2019. In addition, efforts have been put in place to increase the proportion of women in leadership positions, which is at ESA around 10%.

Furthermore, since the Agency receives a gender-balanced number of applications at the young-graduate level while the number of women interested in permanent jobs drops to about 20%, ESA is opening the early-career scheme also to people in their 30s with some years of working experience.

Finally, the Chief Diversity Officer and many of ESA’s female professionals regularly engage in branding and outreach activities to inspire girls and young women across Europe to enter STEM disciplines, encouraging in particular careers in science, engineering and space.

Indeed, at ESA we are sure that diversity will help us strengthen innovation, lessen resistance to change, obtain a broader understanding of societal needs, boost motivation, inspire people and foster knowledge sharing. Spurred on by the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), and in particular SDGs that aims at equal opportunities for all women and girls, ESA has a major objective to inspire the young generation of girls to enter the STEM field and in particular to attract more women to the wealth of careers and jobs that space can offer.



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The slowest sunsets happen around now

A June solstice sunset in the nation of Oman, on the Arabian Peninsula, from our friend Priya Kumar. Thank you, Priya!

Here’s a natural phenomenon you might never have imagined. That is, the sun actually sets more slowly around the time of a solstice.

It’s true. The slowest sunsets (and sunrises) occur at or near the solstices. The fastest sunsets (and sunrises) occur at or near the equinoxes. This is true whether you live in the Northern or Southern Hemisphere.

And, by the way, when we say sunset here, we’re talking about the actual number of minutes it takes for the body of the sun to sink below the western horizon.

Adrian Strand captured this photo on a beach in northwest England.

When is the solstice? In 2018, the Northern Hemisphere’s summer solstice – and Southern Hemisphere’s winter solstice – will fall on June 21 at 10:07 UTC.

In the United States, that translates to June 21 at 6:07 a.m Eastern Time, 5:07 a.m. Central Time, 4:07 a.m. Mountain Time, 3:07 a.m. Pacific Time, 2:07 a.m. Alaskan Time and 12:07 a.m. Hawaiian Time. Translate to your time zone.

Equinoxes and solstices, via Geosync

Equinoxes and solstices, via Geosync.

Why does the sun set so slowly around the solstice? As viewed from the entire Earth, the sun rises and sets farthest north at the June solstice and farthest south at the December solstice.

Now consider that the farther the sun sets from due west along the horizon, the shallower the angle of the setting sun. That means a longer duration for sunset at the solstices.

Meanwhile, at an equinox, the sun rises due east and sets due west. That means – on the day of an equinox – the setting sun hits the horizon at its steepest possible angle.

The sunset duration varies by latitude, but let’s just consider one latitude, 40 degrees north, the latitude Denver or Philadelphia in the United States, or Beijing in China. At that latitude, on the day of a solstice, the sun sets in about 3 and 1/4 minutes.

On the other hand, at 40 degrees north latitude, the equinox sun sets in roughly 2 and 3/4 minutes.

At more northerly temperate latitudes, the sunset duration is greater; and at latitudes closer to the equator, the sunset duration is less. Near the Arctic Circle (65 degrees north latitude), the duration of a solstice sunset lasts about 15 minutes. At the equator (0 degrees latitude), the solstice sun takes a little over 2 and 1/4 minutes to set.

Regardless of latitude, however, the duration of sunset is always longest at or near the solstices.

As it turns out, the sunset and sunrise are a tad longer on a December solstice than they are on a June solstice. That’s because the sun is closer to Earth in December than it is in June. Therefore, the sun’s disk looms a bit larger in our sky in December, and so it takes slightly longer to set.

Additionally, the closer December sun moves eastward upon the ecliptic at a faster clip, helping to retard the December solstice sunset (and sunrise) even more. For instance, at 50 degrees north latitude, the winter solstice sunset (sunrise) lasts about 4 minutes and 18 seconds, or about 8 seconds longer than the sunset (sunrise) on the summer solstice.

equinox_solstice_610

Bottom line: Here’s a natural phenomenon you might never have imagined. That is, the sun actually sets more slowly around the time of a solstice.

Help support EarthSky! Visit the EarthSky store for to see the great selection of educational tools and team gear we have to offer.

Help EarthSky keep going! Please donate what you can to our annual crowd-funding campaign.



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A June solstice sunset in the nation of Oman, on the Arabian Peninsula, from our friend Priya Kumar. Thank you, Priya!

Here’s a natural phenomenon you might never have imagined. That is, the sun actually sets more slowly around the time of a solstice.

It’s true. The slowest sunsets (and sunrises) occur at or near the solstices. The fastest sunsets (and sunrises) occur at or near the equinoxes. This is true whether you live in the Northern or Southern Hemisphere.

And, by the way, when we say sunset here, we’re talking about the actual number of minutes it takes for the body of the sun to sink below the western horizon.

Adrian Strand captured this photo on a beach in northwest England.

When is the solstice? In 2018, the Northern Hemisphere’s summer solstice – and Southern Hemisphere’s winter solstice – will fall on June 21 at 10:07 UTC.

In the United States, that translates to June 21 at 6:07 a.m Eastern Time, 5:07 a.m. Central Time, 4:07 a.m. Mountain Time, 3:07 a.m. Pacific Time, 2:07 a.m. Alaskan Time and 12:07 a.m. Hawaiian Time. Translate to your time zone.

Equinoxes and solstices, via Geosync

Equinoxes and solstices, via Geosync.

Why does the sun set so slowly around the solstice? As viewed from the entire Earth, the sun rises and sets farthest north at the June solstice and farthest south at the December solstice.

Now consider that the farther the sun sets from due west along the horizon, the shallower the angle of the setting sun. That means a longer duration for sunset at the solstices.

Meanwhile, at an equinox, the sun rises due east and sets due west. That means – on the day of an equinox – the setting sun hits the horizon at its steepest possible angle.

The sunset duration varies by latitude, but let’s just consider one latitude, 40 degrees north, the latitude Denver or Philadelphia in the United States, or Beijing in China. At that latitude, on the day of a solstice, the sun sets in about 3 and 1/4 minutes.

On the other hand, at 40 degrees north latitude, the equinox sun sets in roughly 2 and 3/4 minutes.

At more northerly temperate latitudes, the sunset duration is greater; and at latitudes closer to the equator, the sunset duration is less. Near the Arctic Circle (65 degrees north latitude), the duration of a solstice sunset lasts about 15 minutes. At the equator (0 degrees latitude), the solstice sun takes a little over 2 and 1/4 minutes to set.

Regardless of latitude, however, the duration of sunset is always longest at or near the solstices.

As it turns out, the sunset and sunrise are a tad longer on a December solstice than they are on a June solstice. That’s because the sun is closer to Earth in December than it is in June. Therefore, the sun’s disk looms a bit larger in our sky in December, and so it takes slightly longer to set.

Additionally, the closer December sun moves eastward upon the ecliptic at a faster clip, helping to retard the December solstice sunset (and sunrise) even more. For instance, at 50 degrees north latitude, the winter solstice sunset (sunrise) lasts about 4 minutes and 18 seconds, or about 8 seconds longer than the sunset (sunrise) on the summer solstice.

equinox_solstice_610

Bottom line: Here’s a natural phenomenon you might never have imagined. That is, the sun actually sets more slowly around the time of a solstice.

Help support EarthSky! Visit the EarthSky store for to see the great selection of educational tools and team gear we have to offer.

Help EarthSky keep going! Please donate what you can to our annual crowd-funding campaign.



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See it! Young moon and Venus

Moon and Venus – June 15, 2018 – by Richard Lopez in California.

Abdulmajeed Alshatti wrote: “Country road with the crescent and Venues. June 16, 2018. Kuwait.”

Tony Lee caught the moon and Venus on June 15 and wrote: “… it was almost perfect as Venus and the moon were very bright in the darkening sky above Niagara Falls USA … This is a handheld image while being attacked by unseen biting insects!!”

Moon, Venus and the Beehive open star cluster (M44) of the constellation Cancer the Crab – June 16th 2018 – by Lunar 101-Moon Book.

Omar OK wrote: “Perfect weather for a great view from Setif – North Algeria. Venus and moon crescent encounter. 16 June 2018.”

Jenney Disimon wrote: “Crescent moon 10.9% and Venus. Sabah, North Borneo. 16 June 2018.”

Tom Wildoner of Dark Side Observatory caught this image on June 15, 2018.

Notice the sky background is brighter here. That’s because – on June 15, 2018, when this photo was taken – the moon was lower in the sky, closer to the sunset. The photographer – Steven Sweet of Lunar 101-Moon Book – captured the moon near the bright stars Castor and Pollux in the constellation Gemini.

Venus and young crescent moon from Wisconsin on June 15, 2018. The moon is low in the sky, partly buried in clouds, and that’s why it appears reddish. Photo by Suzanne Murphy.

Anna Sassen in Porto Alegro-RS, Brasil caught the moon on June 14! On that night, it was an extremely young moon, very near the sunset. Because the moon was nearly on our line of sight to the sun – nearly between us and the sun – its lighted face was pointing mostly away from us.

Steve Scanlon Photography wrote on June 14, 2018: “This evening’s hard-to-catch sight: an extremely young moon setting over the Twin Lights of Navesink, Highlands, New Jersey. (2.2% illumination).”

View larger. | Gowrishankar Lakshminarayanan in New York City wrote: “A single exposure shot of the 2 percent waxing crescent resting in between the El Dorado towers was almost impossible to locate with bare eyes. If you see between the two towers there’s a tiny sliver of crescent moon almost bleached by the twilight after just half-hour after sunset.”

The June 14, 2018, moon was 32 hours old – that is, 32 hours from the time of new moon – when it passed over the West Coast of North America. Here’s the 32-hour moon from Steve Lightstone, in Sacramento, California.

Young moon of June 14, 2018, via Luba Guvernator. I believe this photo is from around Lake Tahoe in the Sierra Nevada Mountains, straddling the border of California and Nevada.

Bottom line: Photos of the young moon’s sweep past the brightest planet, Venus, June, 2018.



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Moon and Venus – June 15, 2018 – by Richard Lopez in California.

Abdulmajeed Alshatti wrote: “Country road with the crescent and Venues. June 16, 2018. Kuwait.”

Tony Lee caught the moon and Venus on June 15 and wrote: “… it was almost perfect as Venus and the moon were very bright in the darkening sky above Niagara Falls USA … This is a handheld image while being attacked by unseen biting insects!!”

Moon, Venus and the Beehive open star cluster (M44) of the constellation Cancer the Crab – June 16th 2018 – by Lunar 101-Moon Book.

Omar OK wrote: “Perfect weather for a great view from Setif – North Algeria. Venus and moon crescent encounter. 16 June 2018.”

Jenney Disimon wrote: “Crescent moon 10.9% and Venus. Sabah, North Borneo. 16 June 2018.”

Tom Wildoner of Dark Side Observatory caught this image on June 15, 2018.

Notice the sky background is brighter here. That’s because – on June 15, 2018, when this photo was taken – the moon was lower in the sky, closer to the sunset. The photographer – Steven Sweet of Lunar 101-Moon Book – captured the moon near the bright stars Castor and Pollux in the constellation Gemini.

Venus and young crescent moon from Wisconsin on June 15, 2018. The moon is low in the sky, partly buried in clouds, and that’s why it appears reddish. Photo by Suzanne Murphy.

Anna Sassen in Porto Alegro-RS, Brasil caught the moon on June 14! On that night, it was an extremely young moon, very near the sunset. Because the moon was nearly on our line of sight to the sun – nearly between us and the sun – its lighted face was pointing mostly away from us.

Steve Scanlon Photography wrote on June 14, 2018: “This evening’s hard-to-catch sight: an extremely young moon setting over the Twin Lights of Navesink, Highlands, New Jersey. (2.2% illumination).”

View larger. | Gowrishankar Lakshminarayanan in New York City wrote: “A single exposure shot of the 2 percent waxing crescent resting in between the El Dorado towers was almost impossible to locate with bare eyes. If you see between the two towers there’s a tiny sliver of crescent moon almost bleached by the twilight after just half-hour after sunset.”

The June 14, 2018, moon was 32 hours old – that is, 32 hours from the time of new moon – when it passed over the West Coast of North America. Here’s the 32-hour moon from Steve Lightstone, in Sacramento, California.

Young moon of June 14, 2018, via Luba Guvernator. I believe this photo is from around Lake Tahoe in the Sierra Nevada Mountains, straddling the border of California and Nevada.

Bottom line: Photos of the young moon’s sweep past the brightest planet, Venus, June, 2018.



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2018 SkS Weekly Climate Change & Global Warming Digest #24

Story of the Week... Editorial of the Week... El Niño/La Niña Update... Toon of the Week... Quote of the Week... Coming Soon on SkS... Climate Feedback Reviews... SkS Week in Review... Poster of the Week...

Story of the Week...

Uncovering the Mental Health Crisis of Climate Change

Depressioin 

Source: Pexels

The young man believed he only had five years to live. “Not because he was sick,” said Kate Schapira, “not because anything was wrong with him, but because he believed that life on Earth would be impossible for humans.”

The sign on Schapira’s booth read: CLIMATE ANXIETY COUNSELING 5¢ THE DOCTOR IS IN. Time to earn her pennies.

On that muggy June day, she had set up shop in Kennedy Plaza in downtown Providence, Rhode Island. Schapira is not a trained therapist — a fact she makes clear to visitors — but she is happy to chat with anyone suffering from anxiety about climate change. “A lot of what I do is listen and ask questions,” she said.

Over the coming decades, rising temperatures will fuel natural disasters that are more deadly than any seen in human history, destabilizing nations and sending millions to their death. Experts say that we need to prepare for a hotter, less hospitable world by building sea walls, erecting desalination plants and engineering crops that can withstand punishing heat and drought, but few have considered the defenses we need to erect in our minds. Some, like Shapira, have called for more talking, more counseling to process our grief. But will that be enough? Climate change will do untold violence to life on this planet, and we have remarkably few tools to deal with its emotional cost.

Uncovering the Mental Health Crisis of Climate Change by Jeremy Deaton, Nexus Media, June 12, 2018

Editorial of the Week...

Big Oil CEOs needed a climate change reality check. The pope delivered

Pope Francis

Good common sense speaks even more loudly when it comes from unexpected corners.’ Photograph: Andreas Solaro/AFP/Getty Images 

You kind of expect popes to talk about spiritual stuff, kind of the way you expect chefs to discuss spices or tree surgeons to make small talk about overhanging limbs.

Which is why it was so interesting this week to hear Pope Francis break down the climate debate in very practical and very canny terms, displaying far more mathematical insight than your average world leader and far more strategic canniness than your average journalist. In fact, with a few deft sentences, he laid bare the hypocrisy that dominates much of the climate debate.

The occasion was the gathering of fossil fuel executives at the Vatican, one of a series of meetings to mark the third anniversary of Laudato Si, his majestic encyclical on global warming. The meetings were closed, but by all accounts big oil put forward its usual anodyne arguments: any energy transition must be slow, moving too fast to renewable energy would hurt the poor by raising prices, and so forth. 

Big Oil CEOs needed a climate change reality check. The pope delivered, Opinion by Bill Mckibben, Comment is Free, Guardian, June 14, 2018

El Niño/La Niña Update... 

Well, well, well… what have we here? Favorable conditions for El Niño to develop? The June ENSO forecast estimates a 50% chance of El Niño developing during the late summer or early autumn, and an approximately 65% chance of El Niño conditions in the winter, so forecasters have instituted an El Niño Watch.

June 2018 ENSO Update: El Niño Watch! by Emily Becker, NOAA's Climate.gov, June 14, 2018

Toon of the Week...

 2018 Toon 24 

Quote of the Week...

Grayling’s Commons speech did not even mention climate change, yet this omission attracted negligible attention until Lucas tweeted her incredulous dismay – which, I suggest, tells us that most people now think one more runway will make no difference to climate change, but a massive difference to the UK economy. Might they be right? Lucas addresses her reply to the carpet between our chairs, like a pop star performing an old hit she can’t believe anyone could still need to hear again.

“If you measured impact on climate change by each individual action then you’d never be able to talk about the cumulative impact of a set of actions on the climate. We know aviation is one of the fastest growing sources of emissions; we know emissions at altitude are a lot more damaging to the climate than they are at ground level; we know that if Heathrow expands then it’s almost like an arms race between the different airports across Europe, because they’re all in a fight for passengers.”

But we keep being told we must not concede a competitive advantage to rival European airports. She counters wearily: “If you were talking to campaigners in Charles de Gaulle [airport in Paris], they’d tell you they’re told exactly the same thing: don’t concede defeat to London! We’re all being pitted against one another in this incredibly dangerous race to the bottom. If we were to follow the logic of those people who think every time we build a runway our economy miraculously benefits, then why would you not just cover the whole country in concrete? That’s the logic of that argument. The bottom lines is that aviation is a very good example of why you can’t say: ‘We’ll have a demand-led approach’ – because the demand will go on. I think there needs to be a mature conversation about limits to growth. I think we need to ask: growth for what?”

Growth for jobs? Growth for our kids to leave home and afford a mortgage and enjoy the living standards our parents took for granted? “Growth that is not tackling inequality,” she rejoins. “Growth that’s destroying the planet we depend on. Growth that we know, by simply measuring prosperity in terms of GDP growth, is an incredibly blunt instrument. GDP simply measures the circulation of money in the economy, not whether or not the outcome of using that money is positive or negative. A major pile up on the M5 is wonderful for growth, because it means people go out and buy more cars. But by any other measure of what’s useful or helpful, a pile up on the M5 is bad news.”

Caroline Lucas on Heathrow and climate change: ‘The apocalypse is happening’, Saturday Interview by Decca Aitkenhead, Guardian, June 16, 2018

Coming Soon on SkS...

  • Should we be worried about surging Antarctic ice melt and sea level rise? (Dana)
  • Wally Broeker: Father of “Global Warming”, in a Warning to his Granddaughter (greenman)
  • Life after PhD (Climatesight Kate)
  • Guest Post (John Abraham)
  • New research this week (Ari)
  • 2018 SkS Weekly Climate Change & Global Warming News Roundup #25 (John Hartz)
  • 2018 SkS Weekly Climate Change & Global Warming Digest #25 (John Hartz)

Climate Feedback Reviews...

Washington Post article accurately describes latest estimate of accelerating Antarctic ice loss

2015 Climate Feedback 24 

Climate Feedback asked a team of scientists to review the article, Antarctic ice loss has tripled in a decade. If that continues we are in serious trouble. by Chris Mooney, Energy & Environment, Washington Post, June 13, 2018

Four scientists analyzed the article and estimate its overall scientific credibility to be 'high'.

A majority of reviewers tagged the article as: Accurate, Insightful

Review Summary

This article in The Washington Post describes an important study from a project called the Ice sheet Mass Balance Intercomparison Exercise (or IMBIE), which synthesized many existing records of Antarctic ice based on different types of measurements. The resulting estimate shows that Antarctica alone lost enough ice between 1992 and 2017 to raise global sea level by around 7.6 millimeters—almost 10% of the total sea level change over that time period.

Scientists who reviewed the article found that it accurately summarized this result, while explaining some of the processes behind this mass loss and the sea level rise it produces. However, they note that future trends depend partly on complex natural variability, which the article could have made clear. 

Washington Post article accurately describes latest estimate of accelerating Antarctic ice loss, Edited by Scott Johnson, Climate Feedback, June 15, 2018

SkS Week in Review... 

Poster of the Week...

2018 Poster 24 



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Story of the Week... Editorial of the Week... El Niño/La Niña Update... Toon of the Week... Quote of the Week... Coming Soon on SkS... Climate Feedback Reviews... SkS Week in Review... Poster of the Week...

Story of the Week...

Uncovering the Mental Health Crisis of Climate Change

Depressioin 

Source: Pexels

The young man believed he only had five years to live. “Not because he was sick,” said Kate Schapira, “not because anything was wrong with him, but because he believed that life on Earth would be impossible for humans.”

The sign on Schapira’s booth read: CLIMATE ANXIETY COUNSELING 5¢ THE DOCTOR IS IN. Time to earn her pennies.

On that muggy June day, she had set up shop in Kennedy Plaza in downtown Providence, Rhode Island. Schapira is not a trained therapist — a fact she makes clear to visitors — but she is happy to chat with anyone suffering from anxiety about climate change. “A lot of what I do is listen and ask questions,” she said.

Over the coming decades, rising temperatures will fuel natural disasters that are more deadly than any seen in human history, destabilizing nations and sending millions to their death. Experts say that we need to prepare for a hotter, less hospitable world by building sea walls, erecting desalination plants and engineering crops that can withstand punishing heat and drought, but few have considered the defenses we need to erect in our minds. Some, like Shapira, have called for more talking, more counseling to process our grief. But will that be enough? Climate change will do untold violence to life on this planet, and we have remarkably few tools to deal with its emotional cost.

Uncovering the Mental Health Crisis of Climate Change by Jeremy Deaton, Nexus Media, June 12, 2018

Editorial of the Week...

Big Oil CEOs needed a climate change reality check. The pope delivered

Pope Francis

Good common sense speaks even more loudly when it comes from unexpected corners.’ Photograph: Andreas Solaro/AFP/Getty Images 

You kind of expect popes to talk about spiritual stuff, kind of the way you expect chefs to discuss spices or tree surgeons to make small talk about overhanging limbs.

Which is why it was so interesting this week to hear Pope Francis break down the climate debate in very practical and very canny terms, displaying far more mathematical insight than your average world leader and far more strategic canniness than your average journalist. In fact, with a few deft sentences, he laid bare the hypocrisy that dominates much of the climate debate.

The occasion was the gathering of fossil fuel executives at the Vatican, one of a series of meetings to mark the third anniversary of Laudato Si, his majestic encyclical on global warming. The meetings were closed, but by all accounts big oil put forward its usual anodyne arguments: any energy transition must be slow, moving too fast to renewable energy would hurt the poor by raising prices, and so forth. 

Big Oil CEOs needed a climate change reality check. The pope delivered, Opinion by Bill Mckibben, Comment is Free, Guardian, June 14, 2018

El Niño/La Niña Update... 

Well, well, well… what have we here? Favorable conditions for El Niño to develop? The June ENSO forecast estimates a 50% chance of El Niño developing during the late summer or early autumn, and an approximately 65% chance of El Niño conditions in the winter, so forecasters have instituted an El Niño Watch.

June 2018 ENSO Update: El Niño Watch! by Emily Becker, NOAA's Climate.gov, June 14, 2018

Toon of the Week...

 2018 Toon 24 

Quote of the Week...

Grayling’s Commons speech did not even mention climate change, yet this omission attracted negligible attention until Lucas tweeted her incredulous dismay – which, I suggest, tells us that most people now think one more runway will make no difference to climate change, but a massive difference to the UK economy. Might they be right? Lucas addresses her reply to the carpet between our chairs, like a pop star performing an old hit she can’t believe anyone could still need to hear again.

“If you measured impact on climate change by each individual action then you’d never be able to talk about the cumulative impact of a set of actions on the climate. We know aviation is one of the fastest growing sources of emissions; we know emissions at altitude are a lot more damaging to the climate than they are at ground level; we know that if Heathrow expands then it’s almost like an arms race between the different airports across Europe, because they’re all in a fight for passengers.”

But we keep being told we must not concede a competitive advantage to rival European airports. She counters wearily: “If you were talking to campaigners in Charles de Gaulle [airport in Paris], they’d tell you they’re told exactly the same thing: don’t concede defeat to London! We’re all being pitted against one another in this incredibly dangerous race to the bottom. If we were to follow the logic of those people who think every time we build a runway our economy miraculously benefits, then why would you not just cover the whole country in concrete? That’s the logic of that argument. The bottom lines is that aviation is a very good example of why you can’t say: ‘We’ll have a demand-led approach’ – because the demand will go on. I think there needs to be a mature conversation about limits to growth. I think we need to ask: growth for what?”

Growth for jobs? Growth for our kids to leave home and afford a mortgage and enjoy the living standards our parents took for granted? “Growth that is not tackling inequality,” she rejoins. “Growth that’s destroying the planet we depend on. Growth that we know, by simply measuring prosperity in terms of GDP growth, is an incredibly blunt instrument. GDP simply measures the circulation of money in the economy, not whether or not the outcome of using that money is positive or negative. A major pile up on the M5 is wonderful for growth, because it means people go out and buy more cars. But by any other measure of what’s useful or helpful, a pile up on the M5 is bad news.”

Caroline Lucas on Heathrow and climate change: ‘The apocalypse is happening’, Saturday Interview by Decca Aitkenhead, Guardian, June 16, 2018

Coming Soon on SkS...

  • Should we be worried about surging Antarctic ice melt and sea level rise? (Dana)
  • Wally Broeker: Father of “Global Warming”, in a Warning to his Granddaughter (greenman)
  • Life after PhD (Climatesight Kate)
  • Guest Post (John Abraham)
  • New research this week (Ari)
  • 2018 SkS Weekly Climate Change & Global Warming News Roundup #25 (John Hartz)
  • 2018 SkS Weekly Climate Change & Global Warming Digest #25 (John Hartz)

Climate Feedback Reviews...

Washington Post article accurately describes latest estimate of accelerating Antarctic ice loss

2015 Climate Feedback 24 

Climate Feedback asked a team of scientists to review the article, Antarctic ice loss has tripled in a decade. If that continues we are in serious trouble. by Chris Mooney, Energy & Environment, Washington Post, June 13, 2018

Four scientists analyzed the article and estimate its overall scientific credibility to be 'high'.

A majority of reviewers tagged the article as: Accurate, Insightful

Review Summary

This article in The Washington Post describes an important study from a project called the Ice sheet Mass Balance Intercomparison Exercise (or IMBIE), which synthesized many existing records of Antarctic ice based on different types of measurements. The resulting estimate shows that Antarctica alone lost enough ice between 1992 and 2017 to raise global sea level by around 7.6 millimeters—almost 10% of the total sea level change over that time period.

Scientists who reviewed the article found that it accurately summarized this result, while explaining some of the processes behind this mass loss and the sea level rise it produces. However, they note that future trends depend partly on complex natural variability, which the article could have made clear. 

Washington Post article accurately describes latest estimate of accelerating Antarctic ice loss, Edited by Scott Johnson, Climate Feedback, June 15, 2018

SkS Week in Review... 

Poster of the Week...

2018 Poster 24 



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Life at Alpha Centauri? Maybe, NASA says

Alpha Centauri is the closest star system to our sun. Chandra data from May 2, 2017 are shown in the inset, in context of a visible-light image of the Alpha Centauri system taken from the ground. Image via Optical: Zdenek Bardon; X-ray: NASA/CXC/Univ. of Colorado/T. Ayres et al.

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With the discovery of thousands of exoplanets orbiting other stars, the search for life elsewhere has entered an exciting new phase. So far, most of these worlds have been found many light-years away (largely due to the fact that the Kepler Space Telescope, which has discovered the majority of them so far, has focused on a specific patch of sky which contains very distant stars). But what about closer stars? Including, of course, Alpha Centauri, the closest star system to our sun, only just over four light-years away. According to Tom Ayres of the University of Colorado Boulder:

Because it is relatively close, the Alpha Centauri system is seen by many as the best candidate to explore for signs of life. The question is, will we find planets in an environment conducive to life as we know it?

Scientists had thought that there was too much X-ray radiation from the stars in the system for life on any planets to be likely. But now, as announced by NASA on June 6, 2018, there is new evidence from NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory, that, perhaps, conditions could be more life-friendly than previously assumed.

Artist’s concept of the exoplanet Proxima b orbiting the red dwarf star Proxima Centauri, the closest star to the solar system. Image via ESO/M. Kornmesser.

While the other two stars, Alpha Centauri A and B, are both similar to our sun, Proxima Centauri is a red dwarf, which emits much more deadly X-ray radiation. That is bad news for its one known Earth-sized planet, Proxima b. However, observations from Chandra since 2005 show that conditions around the other two stars are about the same or even better than around our own sun. In terms of the radiation, the prospects for life are actually better for habitable zone planets around Alpha Centauri A than our own sun, with lower doses of X-rays than similar planets in our solar system, and only slightly worse around Alpha Centauri B, by a factor of five. As Ayres noted:

This is very good news for Alpha Cen AB in terms of the ability of possible life on any of their planets to survive radiation bouts from the stars. Chandra shows us that life should have a fighting chance on planets around either of these stars.

Artist’s concept of super-Earth exoplanet Kepler-22b, which may be habitable. It is not known yet if any other planets orbit the two larger sun-like stars in the Alpha Centauri system, but if there are, some may have conditions suitable for life. Image via NASA.

It is not known yet if there are any rocky planets orbiting Alpha Centauri A or B, but if so, then there is an increased chance of habitable conditions, although other factors come into play as well, such as temperature, liquid water or lack of it, composition of any atmosphere, etc. One problem with searching for planets there is that both stars are bright and currently closer together because of their orbits, making detection more difficult.

For Proxima b however, the situation is different. It receives an average dose of X-rays about 500 times greater than Earth, and up to 50,000 times stronger during a large solar flare. Not exactly ideal conditions for life.

Comparison of the three stars in the Alpha Centauri system and the sun. Image via PHL @ UPR Arecibo.

With so many exoplanets being discovered now, it is natural of course to wonder about the star system closest to us. Could life exist there? For the one planet known to exist there so far, the results are not encouraging. But if there are others, and most planetary systems appear to have more than one planet, then the odds are a bit more in life’s favor. We won’t know for sure until/if we find additional planets in the Alpha Centauri system. But even if we don’t, many other worlds are being discovered on a regular basis now, and a growing number appear to have conditions at least suitable for habitability, if not life itself.

The new results were presented at the 232rd meeting of the American Astronomical Society meeting in Denver, Colorado, and some results were published in January 2018 in the Research Notes of the American Astronomical Society.

Bottom line: The closest star system to our sun, Alpha Centauri, has at least one Earth-sized planet orbiting one of its three stars. Dangerous x-rays from that red dwarf star make life unlikely there, but the prospects may be much better for the other two sun-like stars, if any as-yet undiscovered planets orbit them.

Source: Alpha Centauri Beyond the Crossroads

Via NASA

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Alpha Centauri is the closest star system to our sun. Chandra data from May 2, 2017 are shown in the inset, in context of a visible-light image of the Alpha Centauri system taken from the ground. Image via Optical: Zdenek Bardon; X-ray: NASA/CXC/Univ. of Colorado/T. Ayres et al.

Help EarthSky keep going! Please donate what you can to our annual crowd-funding campaign.

With the discovery of thousands of exoplanets orbiting other stars, the search for life elsewhere has entered an exciting new phase. So far, most of these worlds have been found many light-years away (largely due to the fact that the Kepler Space Telescope, which has discovered the majority of them so far, has focused on a specific patch of sky which contains very distant stars). But what about closer stars? Including, of course, Alpha Centauri, the closest star system to our sun, only just over four light-years away. According to Tom Ayres of the University of Colorado Boulder:

Because it is relatively close, the Alpha Centauri system is seen by many as the best candidate to explore for signs of life. The question is, will we find planets in an environment conducive to life as we know it?

Scientists had thought that there was too much X-ray radiation from the stars in the system for life on any planets to be likely. But now, as announced by NASA on June 6, 2018, there is new evidence from NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory, that, perhaps, conditions could be more life-friendly than previously assumed.

Artist’s concept of the exoplanet Proxima b orbiting the red dwarf star Proxima Centauri, the closest star to the solar system. Image via ESO/M. Kornmesser.

While the other two stars, Alpha Centauri A and B, are both similar to our sun, Proxima Centauri is a red dwarf, which emits much more deadly X-ray radiation. That is bad news for its one known Earth-sized planet, Proxima b. However, observations from Chandra since 2005 show that conditions around the other two stars are about the same or even better than around our own sun. In terms of the radiation, the prospects for life are actually better for habitable zone planets around Alpha Centauri A than our own sun, with lower doses of X-rays than similar planets in our solar system, and only slightly worse around Alpha Centauri B, by a factor of five. As Ayres noted:

This is very good news for Alpha Cen AB in terms of the ability of possible life on any of their planets to survive radiation bouts from the stars. Chandra shows us that life should have a fighting chance on planets around either of these stars.

Artist’s concept of super-Earth exoplanet Kepler-22b, which may be habitable. It is not known yet if any other planets orbit the two larger sun-like stars in the Alpha Centauri system, but if there are, some may have conditions suitable for life. Image via NASA.

It is not known yet if there are any rocky planets orbiting Alpha Centauri A or B, but if so, then there is an increased chance of habitable conditions, although other factors come into play as well, such as temperature, liquid water or lack of it, composition of any atmosphere, etc. One problem with searching for planets there is that both stars are bright and currently closer together because of their orbits, making detection more difficult.

For Proxima b however, the situation is different. It receives an average dose of X-rays about 500 times greater than Earth, and up to 50,000 times stronger during a large solar flare. Not exactly ideal conditions for life.

Comparison of the three stars in the Alpha Centauri system and the sun. Image via PHL @ UPR Arecibo.

With so many exoplanets being discovered now, it is natural of course to wonder about the star system closest to us. Could life exist there? For the one planet known to exist there so far, the results are not encouraging. But if there are others, and most planetary systems appear to have more than one planet, then the odds are a bit more in life’s favor. We won’t know for sure until/if we find additional planets in the Alpha Centauri system. But even if we don’t, many other worlds are being discovered on a regular basis now, and a growing number appear to have conditions at least suitable for habitability, if not life itself.

The new results were presented at the 232rd meeting of the American Astronomical Society meeting in Denver, Colorado, and some results were published in January 2018 in the Research Notes of the American Astronomical Society.

Bottom line: The closest star system to our sun, Alpha Centauri, has at least one Earth-sized planet orbiting one of its three stars. Dangerous x-rays from that red dwarf star make life unlikely there, but the prospects may be much better for the other two sun-like stars, if any as-yet undiscovered planets orbit them.

Source: Alpha Centauri Beyond the Crossroads

Via NASA

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Bees understand the concept of zero

New research suggests that honeybees can rank numerical quantities and understand that zero belongs at the lower end of a sequence of numbers.

Adrian Dyer, of RMIT University in Melbourne, Australia, is a co-author of the study, published June 8, 2018, in the peer-reviewed journal Science. He said the number zero was the backbone of modern math and technological advancements. Dyer said:

Zero is a difficult concept to understand and a mathematical skill that doesn’t come easily – it takes children a few years to learn. We’ve long believed only humans had the intelligence to get the concept, but recent research has shown monkeys and birds have the brains for it as well. What we haven’t known – until now – is whether insects can also understand zero.

Previous research has shown that honeybeees can learn intricate skills from other bees and even understand abstract concepts such as sameness and difference. But bee brains have fewer than 1 million neurons – compared with the 86,000 million neurons of a human brain – and little was known about how insect brains would cope with being tested on such an important numeric skill.

Trained to pick the lowest number out of a series of options, a honeybee chooses a blank image, revealing an understanding of the concept of zero. Image via RMIT University.

To test the bees, the researchers trained bees to choose an image with the lowest number of elements in order to receive a reward of sugar solution. For example, the bees learned to choose three elements when presented with three vs. four; or two elements when presented with two vs. three. When the researchers periodically tested the bees with an image that contained no elements versus an image that had one or more, the bees understood that the set of zero was the lower number – despite never having been exposed to an “empty set.”

Dyer said the findings opened the door to new understandings of how different brains could represent zero. He said:

This is a tricky neuroscience problem. It is relatively easy for neurons to respond to stimuli such as light or the presence of an object but how do we, or even an insect, understand what nothing is?

How does a brain represent nothing? Could bees and other animals that collect lots of food items, have evolved special neural mechanisms to enable the perception of zero?

If bees can learn such a seemingly advanced math skill that we don’t even find in some ancient human cultures, perhaps this opens the door to considering the mechanism that allows animals and ourselves to understand the concept of nothing.

One of the problems in the development of artificial intelligence is enabling robots to operate in very complex environments, Dyer said.

Crossing a road is simple for adult humans. We understand if there are no approaching cars, no bikes or trams, then it is probably OK to cross. But what is zero, how do we represent this for so many complex object classes to make decisions in complex environments?

If bees can perceive zero with a brain of less than a million neurons, it suggests there are simple efficient ways to teach AI new tricks.

Image via RMIT University.

Bottom line: A new study suggests that honeybees can understand the concept of zero.

Read more from RMIT University

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New research suggests that honeybees can rank numerical quantities and understand that zero belongs at the lower end of a sequence of numbers.

Adrian Dyer, of RMIT University in Melbourne, Australia, is a co-author of the study, published June 8, 2018, in the peer-reviewed journal Science. He said the number zero was the backbone of modern math and technological advancements. Dyer said:

Zero is a difficult concept to understand and a mathematical skill that doesn’t come easily – it takes children a few years to learn. We’ve long believed only humans had the intelligence to get the concept, but recent research has shown monkeys and birds have the brains for it as well. What we haven’t known – until now – is whether insects can also understand zero.

Previous research has shown that honeybeees can learn intricate skills from other bees and even understand abstract concepts such as sameness and difference. But bee brains have fewer than 1 million neurons – compared with the 86,000 million neurons of a human brain – and little was known about how insect brains would cope with being tested on such an important numeric skill.

Trained to pick the lowest number out of a series of options, a honeybee chooses a blank image, revealing an understanding of the concept of zero. Image via RMIT University.

To test the bees, the researchers trained bees to choose an image with the lowest number of elements in order to receive a reward of sugar solution. For example, the bees learned to choose three elements when presented with three vs. four; or two elements when presented with two vs. three. When the researchers periodically tested the bees with an image that contained no elements versus an image that had one or more, the bees understood that the set of zero was the lower number – despite never having been exposed to an “empty set.”

Dyer said the findings opened the door to new understandings of how different brains could represent zero. He said:

This is a tricky neuroscience problem. It is relatively easy for neurons to respond to stimuli such as light or the presence of an object but how do we, or even an insect, understand what nothing is?

How does a brain represent nothing? Could bees and other animals that collect lots of food items, have evolved special neural mechanisms to enable the perception of zero?

If bees can learn such a seemingly advanced math skill that we don’t even find in some ancient human cultures, perhaps this opens the door to considering the mechanism that allows animals and ourselves to understand the concept of nothing.

One of the problems in the development of artificial intelligence is enabling robots to operate in very complex environments, Dyer said.

Crossing a road is simple for adult humans. We understand if there are no approaching cars, no bikes or trams, then it is probably OK to cross. But what is zero, how do we represent this for so many complex object classes to make decisions in complex environments?

If bees can perceive zero with a brain of less than a million neurons, it suggests there are simple efficient ways to teach AI new tricks.

Image via RMIT University.

Bottom line: A new study suggests that honeybees can understand the concept of zero.

Read more from RMIT University

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Imagine the ecliptic, or sun’s path

Tonight – June 17, 2018 – try to imagine the ecliptic (the green line on our sky charts), which represents the sun’s annual pathway in front of the background stars. Being able to visualize the ecliptic from your favorite spot to observe the heavens is helpful, because the moon always moves approximately along this path, and so do the planets. Once you get a sense of it, you’ll know to look for certain bright stars and planets along this nighttime pathway. And indeed, on these June and July 2018 evenings, three bright stars and four bright planets – and the moon – can help you visualize the ecliptic crossing your sky.

So, first of all, what is the ecliptic? It’s defined by the plane of Earth’s orbit around the sun. But astronomers – who frequently need to think about multiple vantage points simultaneously – also speak of the ecliptic as the yearly path of the sun in front of the constellations of the zodiac.

The ecliptic isn’t the same thing as the celestial equator, which is another imaginary great circle, above Earth’s actual equator. It isn’t, because Earth is tilted on its axis with respect to our orbit around the sun. The video below is a visual explanation of why the plane of the ecliptic is tilted with respect to the celestial sphere, the imaginary sphere of stars surrounding Earth. The animation was created to teach college and high school astronomy, and there’s no sound.

So don’t expect an explanation in the video. Just look, and think about the various planes involved.

Was that helpful in giving you a sense of the ecliptic?

Now – look below – and let’s think about some real objects you’ll find in the real sky in June 2018. The first chart below shows the western half of sky at nightfall. The second chart below extends the line of the ecliptic eastward, showing the eastern half of sky for around mid-evening. The third chart below depicts the moon’s position in front of the constellation Leo and Leo’s brightest star, Regulus, for June 17, 18 and 19. On these dates, at early evening, the moon’s lit side is pointing toward Venus, which sits low in the west, and the moon’s dark side is pointing toward Jupiter’s place higher up in the southern sky.

By the way, Mars rises into the southeast sky shortly after Venus sets in your west to northwest sky. Click here for a recommended almanac, giving you Venus’ setting time and Mars’ rising time into your sky.

Keep in mind that this sky chart shows a lot more of sky than our charts typically do. We’re going about one-fourth the way, or 90 degrees, around the horizon. The planets wander in reference to “fixed ” stars of the zodiac, Spica and Regulus.

This is the same chart as at the top of this post. We’re inserting it again here because – see? It’s a close-up of the chart above. This sky chart shows the waxing crescent moon in front of Leo for June 17, 18 and 19. The moon’s lit side points to Venus. It’s moon’s dark side points to Jupiter (see chart below).

Once again, we’re showing a lot more sky than we usually do on our charts. Mars follows Saturn into the sky by around mid-evening. Click here for a sky almanac giving you Mars’ rising time in your sky.

So there you have it, the ecliptic – marked by four bright planets (Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn) and three bright stars (Regulus, Spica and Antares) – on June 2018 evenings.

If you watch over the next several nights, you’ll enjoy seeing the moon move – more or less – along the ecliptic. The moon doesn’t orbit Earth in exactly the same plane that Earth orbits the sun, but nearly so. So its monthly path across our sky is nearly the same as the sun’s annual path. The moon moves eastward in orbit, so – in the coming evenings – it’ll be moving eastward (toward the sunrise direction), passing the stars and planets of the zodiac.

On June 21, the moon will be near Spica, the brightest star in the constellation Virgo

On June 23, the moon will sweep close to Jupiter, the second-brightest planet (after Venus), as shown on the sky chart below

On June 25, the moon will swing north of Antares, the brightest star in the constellation Scorpius, as shown on the sky chart below

On June 27, the moon will pair up closely with Saturn, which is also at opposition, as shown on the sky chart at bottom

On June 30, the moon will swing north of Mars, as shown on sky chart at bottom. Mars is soon to replace Jupiter as the second-brightest planet.

See the sky charts below:

The moon appears much larger on our sky chart than it does in the real sky. Therefore, Jupiter and Antares will probably appear closer together on this sky chart than in the real sky. Look for the moon close to Jupiter on June 22 and 23, and then to the north of the star Antares on June 25.

The moon appears larger on our sky chart than it does in the real sky. Look for the moon to pair up with Saturn on June 27, and for the moon to swing close to Mars on June 30. The moon travels full circle in front of the constellations of the zodiac each month.

Have fun watching … wishing you clear skies!

Bottom line: Spot 3 brilliant planets and 3 bright stars. Then use your mind’s eye to imagine the ecliptic, or sun’s path, crossing your night sky.



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Tonight – June 17, 2018 – try to imagine the ecliptic (the green line on our sky charts), which represents the sun’s annual pathway in front of the background stars. Being able to visualize the ecliptic from your favorite spot to observe the heavens is helpful, because the moon always moves approximately along this path, and so do the planets. Once you get a sense of it, you’ll know to look for certain bright stars and planets along this nighttime pathway. And indeed, on these June and July 2018 evenings, three bright stars and four bright planets – and the moon – can help you visualize the ecliptic crossing your sky.

So, first of all, what is the ecliptic? It’s defined by the plane of Earth’s orbit around the sun. But astronomers – who frequently need to think about multiple vantage points simultaneously – also speak of the ecliptic as the yearly path of the sun in front of the constellations of the zodiac.

The ecliptic isn’t the same thing as the celestial equator, which is another imaginary great circle, above Earth’s actual equator. It isn’t, because Earth is tilted on its axis with respect to our orbit around the sun. The video below is a visual explanation of why the plane of the ecliptic is tilted with respect to the celestial sphere, the imaginary sphere of stars surrounding Earth. The animation was created to teach college and high school astronomy, and there’s no sound.

So don’t expect an explanation in the video. Just look, and think about the various planes involved.

Was that helpful in giving you a sense of the ecliptic?

Now – look below – and let’s think about some real objects you’ll find in the real sky in June 2018. The first chart below shows the western half of sky at nightfall. The second chart below extends the line of the ecliptic eastward, showing the eastern half of sky for around mid-evening. The third chart below depicts the moon’s position in front of the constellation Leo and Leo’s brightest star, Regulus, for June 17, 18 and 19. On these dates, at early evening, the moon’s lit side is pointing toward Venus, which sits low in the west, and the moon’s dark side is pointing toward Jupiter’s place higher up in the southern sky.

By the way, Mars rises into the southeast sky shortly after Venus sets in your west to northwest sky. Click here for a recommended almanac, giving you Venus’ setting time and Mars’ rising time into your sky.

Keep in mind that this sky chart shows a lot more of sky than our charts typically do. We’re going about one-fourth the way, or 90 degrees, around the horizon. The planets wander in reference to “fixed ” stars of the zodiac, Spica and Regulus.

This is the same chart as at the top of this post. We’re inserting it again here because – see? It’s a close-up of the chart above. This sky chart shows the waxing crescent moon in front of Leo for June 17, 18 and 19. The moon’s lit side points to Venus. It’s moon’s dark side points to Jupiter (see chart below).

Once again, we’re showing a lot more sky than we usually do on our charts. Mars follows Saturn into the sky by around mid-evening. Click here for a sky almanac giving you Mars’ rising time in your sky.

So there you have it, the ecliptic – marked by four bright planets (Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn) and three bright stars (Regulus, Spica and Antares) – on June 2018 evenings.

If you watch over the next several nights, you’ll enjoy seeing the moon move – more or less – along the ecliptic. The moon doesn’t orbit Earth in exactly the same plane that Earth orbits the sun, but nearly so. So its monthly path across our sky is nearly the same as the sun’s annual path. The moon moves eastward in orbit, so – in the coming evenings – it’ll be moving eastward (toward the sunrise direction), passing the stars and planets of the zodiac.

On June 21, the moon will be near Spica, the brightest star in the constellation Virgo

On June 23, the moon will sweep close to Jupiter, the second-brightest planet (after Venus), as shown on the sky chart below

On June 25, the moon will swing north of Antares, the brightest star in the constellation Scorpius, as shown on the sky chart below

On June 27, the moon will pair up closely with Saturn, which is also at opposition, as shown on the sky chart at bottom

On June 30, the moon will swing north of Mars, as shown on sky chart at bottom. Mars is soon to replace Jupiter as the second-brightest planet.

See the sky charts below:

The moon appears much larger on our sky chart than it does in the real sky. Therefore, Jupiter and Antares will probably appear closer together on this sky chart than in the real sky. Look for the moon close to Jupiter on June 22 and 23, and then to the north of the star Antares on June 25.

The moon appears larger on our sky chart than it does in the real sky. Look for the moon to pair up with Saturn on June 27, and for the moon to swing close to Mars on June 30. The moon travels full circle in front of the constellations of the zodiac each month.

Have fun watching … wishing you clear skies!

Bottom line: Spot 3 brilliant planets and 3 bright stars. Then use your mind’s eye to imagine the ecliptic, or sun’s path, crossing your night sky.



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