ALERT NEWSLETTER – June 2026

Hi Everyone,

I hope this finds you well as we cruise into summer!

As we leave Spring tornado season, our eyes turn towards the Atlantic and Gulf as hurricane season begins.

NOAA released its seasonal outlook on May 21, which calls for a below normal season, with 8 to 14 named storms, 3 to 6 hurricanes and 1 to 3 major hurricanes.

Though hurricane forecasts are calling for a “below normal’ season due to a strong El Niño, it is good to remember the ABCs. Namely Andrew, Betsy and Camille.

Andrew was a Category 5 storm that destroyed 63,000 homes and damaged 100,000 more in Miami-Dade County Florida in 1992. Andrew was the most destructive hurricane to ever hit Florida in terms of structures damaged or destroyed. 1992 was an El Niño year.

Betsy was a Category 4 hurricane that struck South Florida and Louisiana in 1965, pushing a storm surge into Lake Pontchartrain, which breeched the levees in New Orleans flooding neighborhoods, notably the Ninth Ward, causing widespread damage, as Katrina would again do forty years later, with even more devastating results.

Camille was a Category 5 hurricane that struck near Pass Christian Mississippi, producing a 24.6 foot storm surge, killing 348 people from Mississippi to the Virginias.

Both Betsy and Camille occurred during strong El Niños.

So, a strong El Niño doesn’t necessarily mean “don’t worry, this season will be an easy one”, for it takes just one major hurricane to cause widespread grief, “below average season” or not.

So, keep keeping a wary eye towards the tropical waters, in case mischief brews.

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2026-2027 officers for ALERT!

The results of the 2026 ALERT election is in and your Officers are:

President: Kaila Szmajda, KR4BZF
Vice President: Roger Parsons, KK4UDU
Treasurer & Membership: Bill Rodgers, K4FSO
Secretary: Justin Glass, N0ZO
Public Information Officer: Kaila Szmajda, KR4BZF
Training: Steven Moss, KB4FKN

The Board Of Directors is as follows:

President: Kaila Szmajda, KR4BZF
Immediate Past President: Johnnie Knobloch, KJ4OPX
Station Trustee: Russell Thomas KV4S
Board At Large: Two Year: Mark Wells, WD4NYL
Board At Large: Dale Chambers, KD4QHZ

Thank you for your dedication and willingness to serve!

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A Whole Lot Of Shaking Going On

I always take social media posts with a huge grain of salt, as anything can be posted and it be accepted as “true” whether it is or not.

Sometimes something will pique my interest though, such as several recent Facebook posts featuring maps of Alabama with the headlines “BREAKING: STRANGE GROUND SHAKING REPORTED ACROSS ALABAMA”.

These maps have icons resembling a seismograph trace near Birmingham, Montgomery, Dothan, Gulf Shores and Mobile. No source for these reports or the map is given and the symbol for Gulf Shores is over Pensacola, and another has a symbol for Orange Beach hovering over Panama City, which could simply be simply typo.

Ever curious, I decided to delve into this, and according the United State Geological Survey or USGS, there have been 5 earthquakes effecting Alabama this year:

04/27/2026 Magnitude 2.5 03:55 UTC 7.5 Miles (12km) NNE Trinity, Morgan County, AL
03/20/2026 Magnitude 2.2 05:40 UTC 9.3 Miles (15km) W Rock Creek, Jefferson County, AL
03/16/2026 Magnitude 2.1 19:36 UTC 1.9 Miles (3km) SW Varnell, Whitfield County, GA
01/17/2026 Magnitude 2.3 02:59 UTC 3.1 Miles (5km) NW Addison, Winston County, AL
01/17/2026 Magnitude 2.4 02:18 UTC 3.7 Miles (6km) NW Addison, Winston County, AL

20 Earthquakes occurred in 2025.

12/20/2025 Magnitude 2.1 06:53 UTC 6.8 Miles (11km) SSW Tuscaloosa, Tuscaloosa Co, AL
12/17/2025 Magnitude 1.4 03.42 UTC 4.3 Miles (7km) SE LaFayette, Walker County, GA
12/17/2025 Magnitude 2.4 11.38 UTC 2.5 Miles (4km) SW LaFayette, Walker County, GA
11/13/2025 Magnitude 1.5 21:10 UTC 5.0 Miles (8km) SW Chickamauga, Walker County, GA
11/08/2025 Magnitude 1.7 18:48 UTC 3.7 Miles (6km) WSW Linwood, Walker County, GA
10/31/2025 Magnitude 2.3 09:49 UTC 0.6 Miles (1km) SE Talladega, Talladega County, AL
08/27/2025 Magnitude 2.3 18:14 UTC 3.7 Miles (6km) WSW Linwood, Walker County, GA
08/12/2025 Magnitude 2.0 23:11 UTC 2.5 Miles (4km) NNE Trenton, Dade County, GA
08/03/2025 Magnitude 1.9 12:25 UTC 5.6 Miles (9km) NNW Eton, Murray County, GA
06/29/2025 Magnitude 2.1 19:23 UTC 1.9 miles (3km) ENE Cohutta, Whitfield County, GA
06/22/2025 Magnitude 2.4 00:10 UTC 1.9 Miles (3km) SSW Park City, Walker County, GA
04/22/2025 Magnitude 2.4 17:23 UTC 2.5 Miles (4km) NW Cohutta, Whitfield County, GA
04/16/2025 Magnitude 2.2 04:16 UTC 3.7 Miles (6km) WNW Linwood, Walker County, GA
03/29.2025 Magnitude 2.1 11:58 UTC 3.1 Miles (5km) E Trion, Chattooga County, GA
02/25/2025 Magnitude 2.2 19:44 UTC 5.0 Miles (8km) N Menlo, GA, Chattooga County, GA
02/25/2025 Magnitude 2.6 13:01 UTC 5.0 Miles (8km) N Menlo, GA, Chattooga County, GA
01/25/2025 Magnitude 2.3 18:14 UTC 3.7 Miles (6km) WSW Linwood, Walker County, GA
01/16/2025 Magnitude 1.8 18:49 UTC 2.5 Miles (4km) SE Apison, Hamilton County, TN
11/24/2025 Magnitude 2.4 04:01 UTC 2.5 Miles (4km) WNW Sipsey, Walker County, AL
10/27/2025 Magnitude 2.0 23:16 UTC 0.6 Miles (1km) WSW Collegedale, Hamilton County, TN

This compares to:

19 earthquakes in 2024
10 earthquakes in 2023
13 earthquakes in 2022
12 earthquakes in 2021
23 earthquakes in 2020

A few thoughts:

Of the earthquakes listed affecting Alabama, none are considered unusual, but rather “typical”. Most, unless you are standing on top of the epicenter, are never even felt, especially if they are below magnitude 2.5. Per the USGS, typically people report feeling earthquakes starting at about magnitude 3.0 or greater.

With the exception of the March 30th 2026 Rock Creek earthquake, which was caused by a mine collapse, all of these earthquakes are associated with the Southern Appalachian Seismic Zone, which stretches from Western Alabama along the Appalachian Mountains through Georgia, Tennessee, Kentucky, North Carolina, Virginia and West Virginia. Most are clustered near mountains of NE Alabama and NW Georgia.

None of these are associated with the more famous, or infamous New Madrid Seismic Zone, which produced a series of Magnitude 6.1 – 7.5 earthquakes from December 16, 1811 to February 7,1812, in Missouri and Tennessee, which if repeated today could cause significant damage to Northwestern Alabama.

A lesser-known area, the Bahamas Fracture Seismic Zone in Southwest Alabama and North Florida, runs eastward to the Bahamas, and has produced a half dozen or so earthquakes in the last 30 years, most clustered around Alabama and Florida’s Escambia Counties.

The South Carolina Seismic Zone centered around Charleston SC can also potentially affect Alabama. It produced a Magnitude 6.9 – 7.3 earthquake August 31, 1886 just north of Charleston.

The largest earthquakes to strike Alabama are:

Magnitude 5.1 Irondale, Jefferson County on October 18, 1916, causing cracked windows, fallen chimneys, and dried-up wells as the aquifer was temporarily disrupted. While there were no fatalities, the earthquake caused widespread panic, making workers evacuate tall buildings.

Magnitude 4.8 Flomaton, Escambia County on October 24, 1997, which caused large cracks along a beach.

Magnitude 4.6 Valley Head / Fort Payne, DeKalb County on April 29, 2003, which being a deep earthquake causing only minor landslides, sinkholes and masonry damage.

So, whatever is causing the reported “widespread shaking” it’s probably safe to say that it isn’t earthquake related.

What about the “Alabama Boom” then?

The news sources sound the headlines:

“Eglin officials deny sonic boom source…heard and felt in the Mobile Bay area shortly after 8 a.m. Oct. 13, military officials said the jet had been nowhere near Mobile” – AL.com 10/14/2014

“Mysterious Boom Rattles Alabama and No One Knows What Caused It” – Newsweek 11/15/2017
“What are all these loud booms that are being heard across Central Alabama? The noise was reported again on Sunday and Monday in areas from Birmingham to Anniston. Those booms come on the heels of one heard on November 14th.” – WBRC 11/17/2017

“Did SpaceX create the loud boom heard in Alabama and Florida?” – AL.com 5/30/2023

“No reports of injuries after mysterious big boom heard in Shelby County” – 1819news 7/31/2023

The frequently reported Alabama Boom is a mystery to be solved. These “booms” aren’t limited to Alabama of course, and have been reported globally, where they are sometimes called “Mystery Booms” or “Skyquakes”.

The causes are elusive with some possible explanations being:

1. Sonic Booms, or the shockwave of high-speed military aircraft breaking the sound barrier being heard 100 miles or more.
2. Meteors & space debris entering the atmosphere producing sonic booms or exploding in the atmosphere
3. Industrial causes, such as quarry blasting.
4. Shallow earthquakes
5. Atmospheric ducting causing distant sounds to come rumbling in, much like VHF radio signals often do.
6. Distant Thunderstorms
7. Offshore events, such as geological gas venting from the ocean floor.
8. Things maybe you don’t really want to know about….

One name for these are “Seneca Guns”, named for Lake Seneca in upstate New York where they have been heard for at least 150 years. These were described in 1850 by James Fenimore Cooper in his short story “The Lake Gun”.

“It is a sound resembling the explosion of a heavy piece of artillery, that can be accounted for by none of the known laws of nature”. “The report is deep, hollow, distant and imposing. The lake seems to be speaking to the surrounding hills, which send back the echoes of its voice in accurate reply. No satisfactory theory has ever been broached to explain these noises.”

In this case I think we can rule out jets.

I have heard some “mystery booms” several times while living in western Birmingham, most with reasonable explanations.

The first was in the early 1960s. It was morning and I was waking up when suddenly a very loud BOOM shook the house and it seemed almost as if the windows were bowing in. “A sonic boom” folk said, “probably from Maxwell Air Force Base”.

The second was on October 31, 1979. I remember hearing “boom, BooM, BOOM!” which rattled the entire house. In this case it was the sound of the Hercules Powder Plant, near Bessemer and Hueytown exploding. The plant never reopened, but Powder Plant Road still exists today.

Every few months the neighborhood would shake from blasts. “They’re cleaning out the ladles at US Steel…they drop a stick of dynamite in them to do it” the old timers would say. Which I guess was true.

One night I was reading about Water Oaks, as we had a huge one in the back yard. At 4:10 AM there was a loud “boom” and the whole house shook. “Earthquake!” I said, “Tree!” my wife said. I turned over to go back to sleep, and Teresa suggested maybe I should check the house. I turned the deck light on and saw that we no longer had a deck and that the roof had a new skylight which wasn’t there the day before. The tree, with no wind or rain to cause it, had just decided to split in to. So, we ended up with a new deck, half a new roof (insurance companies are bizarre) and a lost tree.

So, if you hear a weird boom, or feel the earth move under your feet, just welcome to wonders of Alabama!

And, while we are discussing weird phenomena, let’s not forget the best ones of them all.

Today they call them UAPs or Unidentified Aerial Phenomena. I remember when they were just called “UFOs”, which I will continue to call them.

Recently the government released files and pictures of unexplained weirdness, which could not be explained away as lens flares, blotches made during the photo processing or folk “drunker than Cooter Brown” flying drones.

It reminded me of the early 1970’s. From around 1972 to 1975 there was a flood of UFO and USO (Unidentified Submerged Object) reports from across the Southeast and around the world. Some we’re perhaps due to “chemical induced visions” (in other words high as a kite). Others we’re reported by pilots, police officers, preachers and other folk generally considered sane.

USOs we’re seen glowing at night underwater near the shipyards at Pascagoula, some fishermen near Biloxi swore they had been abducted, as did a lady who passed a polygraph test and under hypnosis drew a star chart of the Zeti Reticulum star system shown to her by “them”, and a policeman near Falkville, swore that a man dressed in a shiny suit outran his patrol car.

Then, just as with the swarms on mystery drones which we heard of a couple of years ago, “poof” the reports we’re suddenly gone. Though occasional reports still come in today, it is nothing like the surge during the early 70’s.

Whether it’s the “mysterious lights” and “airships” that were seen along the west coast in the 1880’s or orbs buzzing US Navy fighters today, what are these things? Aliens, natural, but not yet understood phenomena, secret hush hush weaponry? Beats me, as I have seen some unexplainable things also.

I am an analytical person. If I see or hear something weird, I figure there is a reasonable explanation, though I may not know what it is at that exact moment. And, I’ve been a “sky watcher” whether it’s astronomy or meteorology since I was 5 years old, so what may be “weird” to one person may not be weird to me.

Most things I’ve seen have reasonable explanations, such as the multicolored lights I saw on the horizon in 1973, which ended up being the Goodyear Blimp, or when my sister, Mom and I saw something shiny fall off a DC-3 aircraft in 1963.

Have I seen some “unexplainable” things though? Oh yes.

At the risk of sounding delusional:

In the early 1960’s I was maybe 5 years old playing in a sandpile. I looked towards Birmingham, which you could see in the distance and there was a pinpoint black spot over the city. I thought it was an insect hovering a few feet away, as bug are known to do. But I noticed that if I moved to the right or left the spot’s position did not move. If I was near its location, it should have moved to the left or right as my visual angle changed. Then I looked down, looked back up and it was gone.

One night in the late 1980’s I was sitting at the kitchen table eating and, in the sky, a large object passed over the house at a low altitude. I thought “man that plane is low”. Then it occurred to me “where is the plane’s sound?”. I went outside and there was a low cloud cover, so it had to be just at cloud level and I should have been able to hear something if it was an aircraft. What I saw was circular in shape, like a foggy Frisbie, colored not unlike a yellowish green glowstick, moving east to west at a high rate of speed.

In the spring of 1999, my father was in Lloyd Nolan Hospital in Fairfield. As I sat with him, I was looking out of the window towards Ensley. I saw two white triangular shaped objects tumbling slowly through the sky. I thought they were large pieces of white poster paper that had been picked up by the wind, as it was a very windy day. Then I watched as they went behind the tallest building in downtown Ensley, the Massey building and I realized: 1. These we’re much farther away that I thought, as the building was two miles away. 2. These are much larger than I thought, as they still appeared large as they disappeared behind the building. The mystery grew when they did not reappear. I assumed I was seeing an aircraft breaking apart and watched for a smoke plume that never appeared. Later I watched the news and nothing unusual was ever mentioned.

Lastly, in November 2018, my wife and I and another couple were camping in Tannehill State Park
When we saw an orange shaped light moving slowly just above the tree canopy about 100 yards away. Since there was no sound, that would seem to rule out a drone.

It is possible it someone launched a Sky Lantern. Sky lanterns are floating lanterns made from a thin paper shell, from 12 inches to several yards across, with a 4-to-12-inch opening at the bottom, surrounded by a stiff collar, which suspends a flame fueled by a small candle or fuel cell composed of a waxy flammable material, flammable oil or a similar ignitable material

As the flame heats the air inside the shell, it acts like a hot air balloon, rises and stays aloft as long as the flame is lit, then it crashes, if it doesn’t get hung up in the trees. Which is why this isn’t the wisest thing to try in the middle of a forest, as they have been known to cause fires and serious damage.

In three of these four examples, I have no explanation reasonable or otherwise as to what they could be. I’ll add that I’ve never done drugs and am as sober as my Baptist Mama ever was. I mean, if can I see these things stone sober, who needs any outside help?

The truth is out there…

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Mark’s Almanac

Originally the fourth Roman Month, June at one time had 29 days, until Julius Caesar in a glow of inspiration added the 30th day.

What June was named for is uncertain. Some say it was named for Juno, wife & sister of Jupiter. Juno was the goddess of marriage and a married couple’s household, so some consider it good luck to be married in this month, which is why June has become a month for so many marriages.

The beginning of meteorological Summer is June 1.

Storm activity retains many of the characteristics of spring, but more and more the pattern takes on the summer pattern of pop-up thunderstorms.
Hurricane season begins June 1; however, June hurricanes are usually small and of minor intensity, occurring roughly once every two years.

The centers for June Tropical Cyclone activity are the extreme Western Caribbean, with the storm tracks striking the Yucatan or veering toward Western Florida & the Southwestern Gulf of Mexico, with other storm tracks aiming toward the Mexican mainland.

From 1851 to 2025 there have been 107 Tropical Storms and 34 Hurricanes, of which 20 impacted the United States. The most notable June hurricane was Audrey, one of the deadliest tropical cyclones in US history, which killed 416 as it devastated the southwestern Louisiana coast in 1957.

The center of maximum tornadic activity shifts northward over Kansas and Iowa. Activity in Texas and Oklahoma dies down. There is a 5% decrease in tornadic activity over the May average & by June 4th 50% of the year’s tornadoes have occurred.

Days continue to grow longer as the Sun’s angle above the noonday horizon increases from 78.2 degrees at the beginning of the month to maximum of 79.7 on Summer Solstice on June 21 and then lowering to 79.5 degrees at the month’s end. Daylight increases from 14 hours 16 minutes on June 1 to the maximum daylight of 14 hours 25 minutes at Summer Solstice on June 21 and then decreases to 14 hours 23 minutes on June 30.

Sunrise and sunset times for Birmingham are:

June 1 Sunrise 5:37 AM Sunset 7:53 PM
June 15 Sunrise 5:35 AM Sunset 8:00 PM
June 30 Sunrise 5:39 AM Sunset 8:02 PM

The following astronomical data is based on information from In-The-Sky.org, A Complete Guide to the Solar System and the Night Sky | TheSkyLive, Sea and Sky – Explore the Oceans Below and the Universe Above, AstroPixels: Home, https://moonphasetoday.org, 2026 Calendar – Calendar-12.com, Comprehensive Asteroid and Comet Database | Space Reference and others and is based on Birmingham’s latitude. The memes and charts of planetary alignments seen frequently on social media sometimes may be possible for another latitude, but mostly they just AI generated junk hoping to generate a response, ultimately leading to clicks for profit.

That said…

Looking skyward, the Sun, magnitude -26.7 is in Taurus, The Bull.
Mercury, magnitude +0.5 in Gemini, The Twins, is low in the northwest horizon at sunset.

At the first of the month, he becomes visible at around 8:13 PM CDT, 11° above the north-western horizon, as dusk fades to darkness. He will then sink towards the horizon, setting 1 hour and 28 minutes after the Sun at 9:19 PM CDT.

Mercury will reach his highest altitude in the sky on June 11, reaching 19° above the horizon.

At midmonth he will become visible at around 8:31 PM CDT, 12° above the western horizon, as dusk fades to darkness. He will then sink towards the horizon, setting 1 hour and 41 minutes after the Sun at 9:39 PM CDT.

Mercury will reach his greatest separation from the Sun, or reach Greatest Eastern Elongation on June 15.

Mercury will disappear from the night sky descending into the glow of the Sun on June 18.

Venus, magnitude -4.0 in Cancer, The Crab, is the bright Evening Star shining over the western horizon.

At the first of the month, she will become visible at around 8:09 PM CDT, 25° above the western horizon, as dusk fades to darkness. She will then sink towards the horizon, setting 2 hours and 35 minutes after the Sun at 10:26 PM CDT.

Venus will reach her highest altitude in the sky on June 12, reaching 30° above the horizon.

At midmonth she will become visible at around 8:15 PM CDT, 26° above the western horizon, as dusk fades to darkness. She will then sink towards the horizon, setting 2 hours and 34 minutes after the Sun at 10:32 PM CDT.

Venus and the Moon will pass very close to each other, within 0.3° on June 17.

By months end she will become visible at around 8:18 PM CDT, 25° above the western horizon, as dusk fades to darkness. She will then sink towards the horizon, setting 2 hours and 28 minutes after the Sun at 10:28 PM CDT.

Earth, and her Moon, magnitude -4.0, as viewed from the Sun, is in the constellation Libra, The Scales.

Mars, with his moons Phobos and Deimos, magnitude +1.3, in Aries, The Ram is lost in the glow of the Sun during the first week of the month.

He will emerge in the predawn sky on June 7th, rising at 3:44 AM CDT – 1 hour and 50 minutes before the Sun – and reach an altitude of 12° above the eastern horizon before fading from view as dawn breaks at around 4:50 AM CDT.

At midmonth he becomes visible rising at 3:31 AM CDT – 2 hours and 3 minutes before the Sun – and reach an altitude of 15° above the eastern horizon before fading from view as dawn breaks at around 4:50 AM CDT.

By months end he becomes visible rising at 3:07 AM CDT – 2 hours and 30 minutes before the Sun – and reach an altitude of 20° above the eastern horizon before fading from view as dawn breaks at around 4:53 AM CDT.

Dwarf Planet Ceres, magnitude +8.6 is in Taurus, The Bull.

Jupiter, and his 95 moons and (invisible from Earth) ring magnitude –1.8, in Gemini, The Twins at the first of the month is sinking in the western sky.

At the first of the month, he becomes visible around 8:09 PM CDT, 31° above the western horizon, as dusk fades to darkness. He will then sink towards the horizon, setting 3 hours and 1 minute after the Sun at 10:52 PM CDT.

By midmonth he becomes visible around 8:15 PM CDT, 21° above your western horizon, as dusk fades to darkness. He will then sink towards the horizon, setting 2 hours and 9 minutes after the Sun at 10:07 PM CDT.

At months end he will become visible at around 8:18 PM CDT, 11° above your western horizon, as dusk fades to darkness. It will then sink towards the horizon, setting 1 hour and 20 minutes after the Sun at 9:20 PM CDT.

Saturn, and his 274 moons and extensive debris ring system, magnitude +0.8, in Pisces, The Fish, is emerging from behind the Sun in the dawn sky.

At the first of the month, he becomes visible in the dawn sky, rising at 2:44 AM CDT – 2 hours and 51 minutes before the Sun – and reach an altitude of 27° above the eastern horizon before fading from view as dawn breaks at around 4:59 AM CDT.

By midmonth he rises at 1:52 AM CDT – 3 hours and 42 minutes before the Sun – and reach an altitude of 37° above the south-eastern horizon before fading from view as dawn breaks at around 4:58 AM CDT.

At months end he rises at 12:55 AM CDT and reach an altitude of 47° above the south-eastern horizon before fading from view as dawn breaks at around 5:02 AM CDT.

Uranus, and his 28 moons and ring, magnitude +5.8 in Taurus, The Bull, regardless of what social media memes may say, is invisible, hidden in the glow of the Sun.

Neptune, and his 16 moons and ring, magnitude 7.8 in Pisces, The Fish is visible using a telescope, in the predawn sky.

At the first of the month, he rises at 2:19 AM CDT – 3 hours and 16 minutes before the Sun – and reach an altitude of 25° above the eastern horizon before fading from view as dawn breaks at around 4:26 AM CDT.

By midmonth he rises at 1:24 AM CDT and reach an altitude of 35° above the south-eastern horizon before fading from view as dawn breaks at around 4:23 AM CDT.

At months end he rises 12:26 AM CDT and reach an altitude of 45° above the south-eastern horizon before fading from view as dawn breaks at around 4:26 AM CDT.

Pluto, the largest Dwarf Planet, with his five moons shines at a dim 14.6 in Capricornus, The Sea Goat.

Dwarf Planet 136108 Haumea, her ring and moons Hiʻiaka and Namaka, shines at a faint magnitude of 17.2 in Bootes, The Herdsman.

Dwarf Planet 136472 Makemake with his moon S/2015 (136472) 1, nicknamed MK1 by the discovery team, shines faintly at magnitude +17.1 in Coma Berenices.

Dwarf Planet 136199 Eris, the second largest Dwarf Planet, and her moon Dysnomia, originally referred to as Xena and Gabrielle, is barely visible in the most powerful telescopes at magnitude +18.6 in Cetus the Sea Monster.

At least seven additional bodies with the preliminary criteria for identifying dwarf planets, and though not “officially” declared as such, are generally called dwarf planets by astronomers as well.

90482 Orcus, and his moon Vanth shines at magnitude 19.1 near Aries, The Ram.

50000 Quaoar, his two rings and his moon Waywot shines at magnitude +18.6 in Canis Minor, The Little Dog.

90377 Sedna, the coldest, and at one time, the most distant known place in the Solar System, glows faintly at magnitude +20.8 in Taurus, The Bull.

25088 Gonggong, the third largest Dwarf Planet, originally nicknamed Snow White by the discovery team, and his moon Xiangli glows dimly at +21.5 magnitude in Pegasus, The Winged Horse.

2014 UZ224 nicknamed “DeeDee” for “Distant Dwarf” is 8.5 billion miles from the Sun, at magnitude +23.0 in Eridanus, The River.

120347 Salacia, and her moon Actaea glows at magnitude 20.7 in Corvus, The Crow. Salacia is considered a “borderline” Dwarf Planet. Some astronomers saying she “most certainly is a Dwarf Planet”, while others disagreeing based on her size, saying she is too small to have compressed into a fully solid body, to have been resurfaced, or to have collapsed into “hydrostatic equilibrium”, that is to assume spherical shape like a planet.

“Dwarf Planet Candidate” 2017 OF201, magnitude 23.2 is in Triangulum, the Triangle.

Currently the most distant observable known object in the Solar System, an asteroid unofficially called Asteroid 2018 AG37, and nicknamed FarFarOut, glows at a barely detectable +25.5 magnitude in Lynx.

FarFarOut is currently 12,341,407,984 miles or in Light Time, 18 hours, 24 minutes and 11 seconds from Earth.

The most distant man-made object, Voyager 1, still operating after 48 years, 9 months and 7 days is 15,786,453,550 miles or in Light Time, 23 hours, 54 minutes from Earth as of 1:38 PM CDT, May 14, 2026, sailing 38,027 miles per hour through Ophiuchus the Serpent Bearer.

Near Earth Object, asteroid 99942 Apophis, is expected to pass within 19,794 miles of the Earth on Friday, April 13, 2029.

Apophis, magnitude +21.7, in Taurus, The Bull, is 155,070,778 miles or 1066 days from the Earth as of 1:43 PM CST, May 14, 2026.

There are 1,542,606 known asteroids and 4,063 comets as of May 14, 2026 per NASA/JPL Solar Dynamics Website.

6,287 planets beyond our solar system have now been confirmed as of May 14, 2026 per NASA’s Exoplanet Archive.

Last Quarter Moon, or when the moon has only the Eastern side illuminated, will occur June 8 at 5:03 AM or 10:03 UTC.
During the Quarter Moons the Moon’s magnitude is -10.0.

The Moon will be at Perigee, or her closest point from the Earth on June 14 at 221,951 Miles.

New Moon will occur at 9:56 PM CDT June 14 or 02:56 UTC June 15. The Moon will be located on the same side of the Earth as the Sun and will not be visible in the night sky. This is the best time of the month to observe faint objects such as galaxies and star clusters because there is no moonlight to interfere. This will provide the darkest skies of the month.

Because this New Moon will occur near her closest approach to Earth, this will be a Super New Moon.

Summer Solstice will occur at 3:25 AM CDT or 08:25 UTC on June 21. The North Pole of the earth will be tilted toward the Sun, which will have reached its northernmost position in the sky and will be directly over the Tropic of Cancer at 23.44 degrees north latitude. This is the first day of summer in the Northern Hemisphere and the first day of winter in the Southern Hemisphere.

First Quarter Moon, or when the moon has only the Western side illuminated, will occur June 21 at 4:55 PM CDT or 21:55 UTC.

During the Quarter Moons the Moon’s magnitude is -10.0.

The June Bootids Meteor Shower will occur from June 26th until July 2nd. It peaks on June 27th. Normally the shower is very weak, with a Zenith Hourly Rate or ZHR of 1 or 2, but occasional outbursts produce a hundred or more meteors per hour. The source of the June Bootids is Comet 7P/Pons-Winnecke, which orbits the Sun once every 6.37 years.

A near Full Moon will wash out most of the fainter meteors of this unpredictable shower. Best viewing will be from a dark location after midnight.

The Moon will be at Apogee or its farthest distance from Earth on June 28, when she will be 252,443 miles from Earth.

June’s Full Moon is “Strawberry Moon” in Native American folklore. This will occur on June 29 at 6:58 PM CDT or 23:58 UTC. The Moon will be located on the opposite side of the Earth as the Sun and its face will be fully illuminated. It is called “Strawberry Moon” for it signals the time to start harvesting strawberries, as it is peak strawberry ripening time. Other names are “Rose Moon” and “Honey Moon”.

During a Full Moon the Moon’s magnitude is -12.7.

Because this Full Moon will occur at her farthest distance from the Earth, this will be a Micro Full Moon, appearing smaller than normal.

Around 10 PM in mid-June, Libra the Scales will be passing due South. When Alpha Librae, the lower-right of the two brightest stars of Libra, is due south, if you look directly below it you will see nothing but horizon. But, if you were at a lower latitude, say 29°, the latitude of Orlando, or points south would see our brilliant, -0.27 magnitude neighbor Alpha Centauri above the horizon.

At 4.37 light years distance, the Alpha Centauri system is nearest star system to our own.

It is a triple star consisting of Alpha Centauri A, also called Rigil Kentaurus, Alpha Centauri B or Toliman and the closest star to the Sun, Alpha Centauri C also called Proxima Centauri, 4.24 light years from Earth.

Alpha Centauri A is a near twin of our Sun in almost every way, including age, while Alpha Centauri B is somewhat smaller and dimmer but still quite like the Sun. The third member, Proxima Centauri is a much smaller red dwarf star that travels around the A-B pair.

Proxima Centauri has three known planets: Proxima b, an Earth-sized exoplanet in the habitable zone or so called “Goldilocks Zone” – not too hot and not too cold to support some form of life if it has a suitable atmosphere. Proxima c, a super-Earth, which is possibly surrounded by a huge ring system and Proxima d, which orbits very closely to the star.

Alpha Centauri A may have a Neptune-sized habitable-zone planet, though it is not yet known to be planetary in nature and could be an artifact of the discovery mechanism. Alpha Centauri B has no known planets.

From Alpha Centauri the Sun or Sol is a bright yellow star in the broad “W” shaped constellation Cassiopeia.

The Sun adds another leg to the “W” to the right, turning W of Cassiopeia into a /\/\/ shaped celestial zigzag.

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Ham News

HF band conditions continue to be less than prime, or put it another way, about as sorry as they can get.

Still contacts are to be made. My most notable was working AO16DIO in Pontevedra Spain, celebrating World Heavy Metal Day. He was the only strong signal on 20 meters, and he faded out just as quickly as he faded in.

The Sporadic E season has begun on 6 Meters, which will last until August. So, if you have 6 Meter capability, keep an ear tuned to the radio and peek at online propagation reports such as HF Real Time Propagation (which you can fine tune to 6 meters or whatever band you wish) and try to catch a band opening.

The best times to catch a Sporadic E opening is from 10 AM to 2 PM & 4 PM to 8 PM local time.

I worked New York yesterday and on the 6 Meter SSB calling frequency, 50.125 MHz there were three QSO’s going on simultaneously, and none of the stations were aware of the others. On another frequency I called station A, was answered by station B instead and both faded before we could trade signal reports and locations.

Such is life on 6 Meters. Unpredictable, but never boring.

Contests and events of note are:

June 6 Atlantic Canada QSO Party
Kentucky QSO Party
VK Shires Contest (Australia)
IARU Region 1 Field Day – CW
RSGB Field Day – CW

June 13 Asia-Pacific Sprint – SSB
ARRL June VHF Contest
Portugal Day
June 20 SMIRK Contest (6 Meters)
ALL Asia DX Contest – CW
ARRL Kids Day
West Virgina QSO Party
Stew Perry Top Band – CW (160 meters)

June 27 ARRL Field Day
His Majesty King Of Spain – SSB

For more details go to WA7BNM Contest Calendar: Home

On thing I ran across online that I found amusing was a discussion of sideband operations on 75/80 meters.

One gentleman said “operators on 80 meters can talk the hind legs off a donkey.”

Another said “the secret is to tell stories that don’t go anywhere.”

A slightly modified example being: “Like the time I caught the ferry to Shelbyville. I needed a new heel for my shoe. So, I decided to go to Morganville, which is what they called Shelbyville in those days. So, I tied an onion to my belt, which was the style at the time. Now, to take the ferry cost a nickel, and in those days, nickels had pictures of bumblebees on ’em. ‘Gimme five bees for a quarter,’ you’d say. Now where were we… oh yeah. The important thing was that I had an onion on my belt, which was the style at the time. They didn’t have any white onions, because of the war.
YL’s only wanted to talk to fellas with white onion belts., and every stinking restaurant had only red onions. Much too sweet. Might as well have put gummy bears in your salad, except they weren’t invented yet. I remember the headache that the Morganville to Shelbyville name change caused. Oh, the stories I could tell about that and the great Shirt Off Parade. But we should get back to the topic. I have a doctor’s appointment later about my bursitis and need to stop by the prison and see if Aunt Gretchen needs anything. I still say they we’re picking on her and that those parsley plants in her garden that they said was Puerto Rican Lettuce was a just wild variety. That foot cream that old quack doctor gave me hasn’t done even a little bit of good…”

That’s sort of mean.
That’s sort of true.
That’s sort of like the Newsletters you get from me.

73

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This month’s meeting will be on June 9, at the National Weather Service Forecast Office in Calera.

I hope to see you there!

Mark / WD4NYL

Editor
ALERT Newsletter