The night sky above Stonehenge, the iconic Neolithic monument associated with the solstice.
(Image credit: Anton Petrus via Getty Images)
Each November in the Northern Hemisphere, the astronomy world cranks up a gear. As Orion's Belt and the bright stars of winter appear in the east just after an early sunset, telescopes are added to Christmas lists. True darkness has arrived — long winter nights when stargazing sessions can go on for many hours. The blanket of stars has arrived.I used to think beginners should start stargazing in winter. That's what astronomy books always imply: crisp, dark skies and brilliant stars, with the constellation Orion and its spectacular nebula dominating the heavens. My own book, A Stargazing Program for Beginners, outlines a month-by-month program to reveal all the night sky's biggest and most beautiful secrets in just one year — starting in January. Technically, it's all true. Winter skies are spectacular. But they're also cold enough to make most normal people give up after 15 minutes.June is different. June is when the sky becomes readable. The nights are shorter, yes, and in the northern U.S., Canada and much of Europe, true darkness arrives very late near this weekend's solstice. But that softness is exactly what makes it approachable. You don't step into a black void filled with unfamiliar stars, shivering as you do so. You ease into it through lingering twilight, warm air, and a handful of large, obvious patterns that repeat night after night. Stargazing becomes a slow, easy, unrushed affair — and there's so much to see.What's happening and when to lookJust as winter brings many hours of darkness that are hard to make use of — because of cold and clouds — summer brings the opposite problem. In June, you can stand outside in shirtsleeves, but only late at night. For example, in New York — at about 41 degrees north — sunset on the solstice is at 8:33 p.m. EDT, with astronomical night (defined as when the sun is 18 degrees below the horizon) between about 10 p.m. and 3:30 a.m. EDT. At 51 degrees north (much of Canada and the U.K.), astronomical night starts after midnight.Wherever you are in the Northern Hemisphere, you can stargaze during the long twilight that begins about 45 minutes after sunset. With calmer weather compared to winter's haze and endless cloud systems, a clear sky is more likely — and so are camping trips under a dark sky.There's another beginner advantage in summer that few mention: the learning curve is shorter. Summer constellations and asterisms rely more on large geometric patterns. You're not trying to memorize dozens of tiny stars, but instead you're learning shapes.
