June astronomy planet skywatch

We begin the month of June with Saturn and Jupiter visible in the evening’s western sky at sunset. Saturn is very low along the western horizon hanging just below a very slender sliver of a day young Moon. You’ll want to catch a glimpse of Saturn in early June, as he will disappear into the sunset by mid-month. This is because the Sun, in his faster moving eastern trek through the zodiac, will “catch” Saturn this month; the two conjunct on the 24th. The approaching conjunction causes Saturn to disappear into the sunset earlier and earlier each night until he falls under the sun’s beams before the actual conjunction occurs. As the conjunction separates, the Sun will continue to pull away from Saturn to the east. By the middle of next month, Saturn will be far enough west of the Sun to emerge as a morning star.

Jupiter can be located east of the constellation Gemini, still residing among the fainter stars of the constellation Cancer. Jupiter will set around midnight at the beginning of the month and about 11:00 p.m. by month’s end. Watch Jupiter in his direct eastern motion move toward Regulus, the alpha star of the constellation Leo this month. A sky map of June 1st is available in the OCA Main Public Library depicting Saturn hanging below the Moon low in the western horizon and Jupiter’s position higher in the sky. http://www.astrocollege.com/campus/libraries.cgi

Mars will rise around 1:30 a.m. at the beginning of the month, and around 12:30 a.m. by month’s end. If you are looking for Mars in the early morning hours before sunrise, he will have made his way fairly close to due south along the ecliptic near the meridian intersection. Mars is residing amongst the stars of the constellation Aquarius. Remember to keep you eye on Mars. In August the orbits of Mars and Earth come closer than they have in 50,000 years! Mars to will continue to gain in size and magnitude in our night sky until then. Mars’ disk will grow almost 25% in diameter during June, and his magnitude will increase by a factor of 0.7.

Venus rises less than an hour before the Sun with Mercury not far behind. The two lie almost side-by-side in the morning sky. Mercury reaches greatest western elongation on the 3rd. This renders him visible as a morning star; however, at the beginning of June Mercury is very dim and may be hard to locate in the pre-dawn sky. By mid month Mercury will have brightened enough to be detected. Watch for the morning duo to perfect their conjunction on the 20th. Before then Mercury hangs above Venus; after that he will hang below as he moves faster east toward the sunrise. By month’s end both will disappear into the glow of dawn. A sky map of the Mercury-Venus conjunction on the morning of the 20th is available in the OCA Mail Public Library. http://www.astrocollege.com/campus/libraries.cgi

If you are having trouble locating the planets in the night sky, the Moon will be your guide as she makes her monthly journey through the zodiac. On the 1st, a sliver of a New Moon dances next to Saturn. By the 4th, a Crescent Moon will make her way to Jupiter, dancing just below and to the left. She will pass him by the 5th. The Moon reaches her First Quarter phase on the 7th at 4:28 p.m. EDT. On the 12th the Moon reaches perigee, her closest distance to Earth of 223,958 miles. The Full Moon occurs on the 14th at 7:16 a.m. EDT. By the 18th a Disseminating Moon will finally begin to approach Mars. She will hang just below in conjunction on the 19th. The Third Quarter Moon occurs on the 20th at 10:45 a.m. EDT. The Moon reaches apogee, her furthest distance from Earth of 251,800 miles on the 24th. On the morning of the 28th, try to catch a glimpse of Venus and Mercury before they disappear into the glow of sunrise. The Balsamic Moon sliver crowns Venus, with Mercury just below and slightly left. The New Moon occurs on the 29th at 2:39 p.m. EDT.

Summer Solstice occurs on June 21st at 3:11 p.m. EDT when the Sun reaches the Tropic of Cancer. The Sun’s tropical zodiac ingress into Cancer marks the beginning of summer when Sun has climbed to his highest northern declination from the celestial equator. Therefore the northern hemisphere experiences the longest hours of daylight while the southern hemisphere experiences the beginning of winter and the longest night.

There is a meteor shower this month though it is not predicted to be a very active one. The Bootids radiate from the constellation Bootes and this shower is active between June 26th and July 2nd. Bootes can be found below and east of the handle of the Big Dipper and is above the horizon for most of the nighttime hours. The Bootids are left over debris from the comet 7P/Pons-Winnecke. There has been very minimal activity from this shower since 1927, except for a surprise display in 1998. The years since have produced about zero to two meteors per hour.

Happy stargazing!

Julene M. Johnson, NCGR-III
Media Director, OCA
Instructor, OCA
ONLINE College of Astrology
www.astrocollege.com
FIRST in Online Astrological Education

Skywatch June 2003

Eclipses, meteor showers, planetary orbits, and more!

by Julene M Johnson