Jupiter will be directly opposite the sun as seen from Earth on Monday (Sept. He writes about astronomy for Natural History magazine, the Farmers' Almanac and other publications. Joe Rao serves as an instructor and guest lecturer at New York's Hayden Planetarium. The ringed world (magnitude 0.9) mimics a bright "star" shining with a sedate yellowish-white glow about a half-dozen degrees to the upper right of the last quarter moon on the morning of June 10.Įditor's Note: If you get a great photo of any of the planets and would like to share it with 's readers, send your photo(s), comments, and your name and location to. Saturn's rings are now at their least visible for the year, only 7.3 degrees from appearing edgewise, making them difficult to view. But the best view of it comes at morning twilight's first stirring, when Saturn hangs fairly high in the southeast. (three hours after sunset) at month's end. local daylight time at the beginning of June, and around 11:30 p.m. The ringed planet Saturn rises in the east-southeast around 1:30 a.m. (Image credit: Chris Vaughan/Starry Night) JupiterĪn illustration of Saturn in the night sky. In fact, from June 19 through July 10, Mars undergoes a quasi-conjunction with Venus as the more brilliant world draws close but never quite catches up.Ī quasi-conjunction is defined as two planets approaching to within 5 degrees of each other - half the width of your clenched fist held at arm's length - without an actual conjunction in right ascension, the celestial equivalent of longitude. Mars is tiny and faint in comparison to Venus and you'll likely need binoculars to see it at all in the bright twilight even after Venus becomes obvious. On the evening of June 21, Mars will appear 4.5 degrees to the upper left of Venus. And, of course, Mars is a small planet to begin with, making it dimmer in the night sky. Mars shines at magnitude 1.7 throughout June, which classes it as a 2nd-magnitude object, quite a comedown from last December when it ranked among the brightest objects in the night sky! Not only is Mars on the far side of its orbit as seen from Earth, but it also just passed aphelion, its farthest from the sun ,on May 30. MarsĪn illustration of Mars in the June night sky. These are signs that Venus is swinging toward us in its orbit, on its way to passing between the Earth and sun in August. In a telescope the planet is now rapidly waning in phase while growing in size. Venus will be positioned 3 degrees to the lower left of the moon. Then, on the first evening of summer, June 21, about an hour after sunset, look low toward the west to see a striking configuration involving a waxing crescent moon, Venus, and a much fainter Mars. Look for M44 lower left of Venus on June 13, and below it on June 14. On June 13 and 14, Venus will be passing within less than 1-degree of the middle of M44, the famous Beehive Star Cluster (use binoculars or a wide-field telescope). Venus spends the month brightening from -4.4 to -4.6, just short of the peak brilliance it will reach in early July. Skywatchers at 40 degrees north latitude see it 25 degrees high an hour after sunset on June 1, but by June 30 it's only 15 degrees high an hour after sunset and sets less than a half hour after twilight's end. How soon before then will your telescope seem to show it exactly half-lit? Venus is beginning to decline in twilight. It reaches greatest elongation (45 degrees east of the sun) on June 4. Venus dominates the western sky after sunset for yet another month and forms a compact, almost horizontal line with the "Twin Stars," Pollux and Castor to its right. An illustration of Venus as it appears in the June night sky.
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