Howdy stargazers, and welcome to this episode
of Star Trails. Drew here, and I'll be your guide
to the night sky for the week starting June 1st
through the 7th. This week, the rising summer
triangle lets us know that warmer nights are
ahead. We take a moment to explore a peculiar
solar alignment in New York City known as Manhattan
Hinge, and later we explore the parking lots
of space known as the Lagrange Points. Whether
you're tuning in from the backyard, the balcony,
or just your imagination, I'm glad you're here.
So find a cozy spot, let your eyes adjust, and
let's see what the sky holds for us this week.
The moon is currently waxing. Tonight it's in
a crescent phase with about 6 % illumination.
It will reach first quarter on June 3rd with
the full moon arriving around the middle of next
week. Venus is shining brilliantly at magnitude
negative 4 and it's just reached its greatest
western elongation, making it a prominent morning
star in the eastern sky before sunrise. Saturn
is still visible in the early morning sky, rising
in the east during the predawn hours. While not
as bright as Venus, it's distinguishable by its
steady yellowish glow. Look westward after sunset
tonight to spot a conjunction of the moon and
Mars. The waxing crescent moon will appear close
to Mars, offering a picturesque pairing for evening
observers. Mercury is currently too close to
the Sun to be easily observed, but it will become
more visible in the evening sky later this month.
As summer creeps closer, the night sky starts
to show off its southern stars, and this week
you'll have some real stunners to track down.
Low in the southeast after dark, you'll spot
the curve of Scorpius, one of the few constellations
that actually looks like what it's named after.
Its brightest star, Antares, whose name actually
means rival of Mars, is a massive red supergiant
nearing the end of its life, and like Mars, it
glows with a deep, rusty hue. Just to the west
of Antares is M4, a dense globular cluster that
looks like a fuzzy star in binoculars. Right
next door to Scorpius is Sagittarius, home to
the famous teapot asterism. If you can trace
the teapot shape, imagine steam rising from its
spout. That glowing steam is actually the densest
part of the Milky Way, and it's pointing straight
toward the galactic core. Now, you can't see
the center of the galaxy directly. It's hidden
behind gas and dust. But you can look in the
exact direction of it, which is kind of amazing.
And right there, about 26 ,000 light years away,
lies Sagittarius A, a supermassive black hole
anchoring the Milky Way's spiral arms. The area
around it is absolutely loaded with deep sky
gems. There's M8, the Lagoon Nebula, a bright
stellar nursery. M20, the Trifid Nebula, is a
beautiful mix of newly born stars and dark dust.
Also check out M22, one of the best globular
clusters in the sky, and also easy to spot with
binoculars. Even to the naked eye under dark
skies, this part of the Milky Way looks puffier,
brighter, and deeper. It's like the galaxy is
exhaling. And of course, the summer triangle
is rising. High in the east, later in the evening,
you'll see three bright stars forming a giant
triangle. Vega, Altair, and Deneb. The Triangle
is up for most of the night and offers a gateway
to other fun targets like the Ring Nebula M57
in Lyra and the North America Nebula near Deneb.
Have you ever seen the sun set perfectly between
city buildings like it was aiming right down
the street? If you were in New York City last
week, you might have caught Manhattan Hinge.
That's when the sun lines up just right with
Manhattan's grid, beaming down the east -west
streets like a spotlight. But if you missed it,
and if you happen to be in New York City in a
few weeks, you'll get another shot to see it.
The next Manhattan Hinge is happening around
July the 12th and 13th. And if you're nowhere
near Manhattan, stick around because your city
might have its own version of this urban sky
alignment. So what exactly is Manhattan Hinge?
It's a twice -a -year event when the setting
sun aligns with Manhattan's slightly tilted street
grid. The result is, for a few minutes, the sun
drops directly between the buildings, lighting
up the avenues in a perfect glowing frame. New
York's street grid is rotated about 29 degrees
off True East and West, so this solar alignment
happens only when the Sun's path intersects that
angle, once in late May and again in mid -July.
Some top spots to view it include 42nd Street,
34th Street, and 14th Street. The phenomenon
was dubbed Manhattan Hinge by science educator
Neil deGrasse Tyson, and that of course is a
reference to Stonehenge, the prehistoric stone
circle in England that forms a cosmic calendar,
and it aligns with the summer solstice sunrise
and winter solstice sunset. Stonehenge has modern
pagans who gather to experience the solar phenomenon,
while New York City has, well, taxis. New York
isn't the only place that gets this light show.
Cities like Chicago, Toronto, Montreal, Philadelphia,
and Salt Lake City all experience similar events,
sometimes at sunset, sometimes at sunrise, depending
on their grid orientation. For example, Chicago
has Chicago Hinge near the spring and fall equinoxes
because its street grid runs true east to west.
So, how can you tell if your city has a hinge
of its own? This is where a little digital astronomy
comes in handy. There's a great tool called the
photographer's ephemeris, and it lets you map
the sun's path for any date and place on Earth.
You can overlay that info onto your city's street
grid and figure out when the sun will align with
your favorite thoroughfare. It's super useful
if you're chasing that perfect golden hour photo
or just want to know when your city might surprise
you with a solar corridor. So maybe there's a
hinge waiting just a few blocks from you. Let's
shift gears a little from stargazing with your
eyes to something that's mostly invisible but
still incredibly important. Tonight, I want to
take you behind the scenes of the solar system
into the hidden architecture that holds things
steady in space. We're talking about the Lagrange
points, those weird gravitational sweet spots
that make spaceflight smarter, smoother, and
in some cases, just a little bit spooky. If you've
never heard of them before, Lagrange points,
sometimes just called L points, are specific
spots in space where the gravity of two large
objects, like the Earth and the Sun, balances
out just right. So right, in fact, that a third,
much smaller object, like a satellite, can just
sort of hang out there, using no thrusters or
any fuel. It just drifts along in harmony with
the big cosmic players. So picture this, you've
got the Earth orbiting the Sun, and both of them
are tugging on a satellite with their combined
gravity. Normally, that would yank the satellite
around unpredictably, but at a Lagrange point,
the gravitational pulls and the orbital motion
all sync up perfectly, like a cosmic dance step
where the satellite always lands right on the
beat. There are five of these Lagrange points
in any two -body system. Let's stick with the
big show for now, the Earth -Sun system. L1 is
for sun watchers. The first Lagrange point, L1,
sits directly between Earth and the Sun. It's
about a million miles from Earth, closer to the
Sun than we are, but locked in Earth's orbital
path. This is where we park solar observatories
like SOHO and the Discover spacecraft because
L1 gives them an uninterrupted view of the Sun,
which is perfect for studying solar flares, sunspots,
and space weather that can affect satellites
and even power grids down here on Earth. It's
the front row seat for solar drama, and it's
always in the light. Now L2 is a nice place for
deep space stargazers. L2 is located about a
million miles away from Earth, but on the far
side away from the Sun. This spot is special
because it allows telescopes to stay in Earth's
shadow, with the Sun, Earth, and Moon all behind
them. That makes it incredibly cold and dark,
just what you want for observing faint galaxies
and distant stars. This is where the James Webb
Space Telescope lives. Its mirrors and instruments
are designed to pick up the faintest heat signatures
in the universe, so it needs that cold, quiet
neighborhood. Think of L2 as the astronomer's
porch, but with the light turned off. L3 is sometimes
called the phantom point. L3 sits on the far
side of the Sun, directly opposite Earth. It's
always hidden from our view. You can't see it
from here, and that's what's given rise to all
kinds of fun science fiction ideas like secret
planets, alien outposts, or even doppelganger
Earths hiding in the blind spot. But in real
life, L3 isn't all that stable. If you tried
to park a satellite there, it would eventually
drift away. Think of L4 and L5 as the cosmic
rest stops. These points form the tips of an
equilateral triangle with the Earth and the Sun.
That means they lead and trail Earth in its orbit
about 60 degrees ahead of and behind. L4 and
L5 are really stable. Objects placed there tend
to stay put even if they get nudged a little.
They often collect space debris, dust clouds,
and even asteroids. Jupiter, for example, has
thousands of asteroids camped out at its L4 and
L5 points. Earth has a few too, though they're
much smaller and harder to spot. Some scientists
even speculate that alien probes, if they existed,
would choose L4 or L5 as a parking spot. They're
hidden, stable, and offer a great long -term
view of Earth. So what makes these places so
valuable? For one, they reduce the energy needed
to keep spacecraft in a fixed position. That
means less fuel, longer missions, and more stable
instruments. And for future space infrastructure,
things like observatories, solar power stations,
or even planetary defense systems, Lagrange points
offer premium real estate. They also give us
strategic vantage points, whether we're monitoring
solar storms, peering into deep space, or preparing
for interplanetary travel. These points let us
place our tools exactly where they'll be most
effective. So the next time you hear about a
new space telescope or satellite mission, listen
closely and there's a good chance it's heading
for one of these gravitational sweet spots. For
the math of motion and the poetry of space come
together just right. If the stars spoke to you
this week or if a question's been on your mind,
I'd love to hear it. Visit our website, StarTrails
.Show, where you can contact me and explore past
episodes. Be sure to follow us on Mastodon, Blue
Sky, and YouTube. Links are in the show notes.
Until we meet again beneath the stars, clear
skies everyone.