At dusk of June, three planets form a diagonal line in the western sky: Saturn in the upper left, Mars in the middle and rather brilliant Venus low on the right side. Jupiter and Uranus are a bit 'low southeastern sky at dawn. And in early June, Mercury hovers low in the east before dawn.
A partial lunar eclipse, June 26 is seen in its entirety on a large part of the Pacific Ocean. And 'interrupted by sunrise and moonset on the western two thirdsNorth America (see page 60 for details).
DUSK
Venus reaches greatest elongation from the sun of August. But for the viewer at the center of the northern latitudes of June, the month in which Venus is highest right after sunset. This is because the planet is rapidly moving from the south, is the so-called
Venus seems to -4.0 strength, forms a straight line, just over 10 ° long, with Pollux and Castor weaker June 11. The June 19 and 20 Venus is in Cancer Center, less than1 ° from the center of the great Messier 44, the Beehive star cluster - a beautiful sight in binoculars and telescopes at low magnification for.
Mars spends the evening of June first dozen in the nearby Regulus size 1.4. The planet is just a little 'brighter than the stars, but their closeness intensified yellow-orange Mars and blue-white Regulus.
On June 3, Mars less than 2 ° to the right of Regulus in the sky at night in North America. The couple is June 6 is the closest, with only 50 Mars'in the upper right corner of the star. Mars is 1 ° above Regulus, 7, and after that Mars moves around the sixth day for the stars in the upper left.
Mars is in the middle of the night. In telescopes it is almost outlines a dot less than 6 "wide.
Saturn reaches quadrature (90 degrees to the east of the sun) on June 19. Saturn is obliterated all traces in magnitude from 1.0 to 1.1 months of June, because the land away from her, now, as shown on the opposite side. But the biggest reason is that Saturn is dimClose the ring. End of May, the rings were tilted by 1.7 ° up, and now they are just beginning to open, reached 2.1 ° at the end of June. Not until 2024, the rings are thin and weak that moons of Saturn's interior, look this easy (see last issue, page 61).
End of the month, Saturn is not long after midnight (summer time). Please note that Mars and Venus to Saturn are closing the lower right side. It will take the ringed planet, only 9 daysapart, in early August.
LATE NIGHT
Pluto in Sagittarius, is in opposition to the Sun on June 25 and higher in the south in the middle of the night. Even now that Pluto is to Earth in the next, then you probably need at least an 8 - inch telescope and a very dark sky to 14 size of the Kuiper Belt object to be seen. To spend a finder chart, see the next month or SkyandTelescope.com / Pluto.
AFTER MIDNIGHT
Neptune, on the border between Capricorn and Aquarius, risesbefore the middle of the night and is highest at the beginning of morning twilight. Finder charts for the two outer giant planets are available SkyandTelescope.com / Uranus, Neptune.
Jupiter and Uranus in Pisces are 2 ° apart in June. Get off after midnight (summer time) and are still quite low in the east or south-east of the sky to shine begins to grow. But by mid-June, should be high enough so that you also get quite crispy telescopic sightTomorrow starts to lighten. It can also, if you can not solve Uranus is 3.5 "hard drive off every morning, a telescope to show their blue-green.
Jupiter and Uranus are less than 1 ° away from June 1 to 16, and less of the sixth offset of 6 to 10. Together they have - their first of three in a span of six months - on June 8, when Jupiter shines at -2.3 size 5.9 size of Uranus '26' in the North West. Uranus is in quadrature (90 degrees west of the sun) on June 22Jupiter on June 23.
DAWN
Mercury rises at dawn a respectable hour before sunrise during the first half of June for an observer in the middle northern latitudes, and it seems the order from 0 to -1. But these statistics are misleading. June dawns are long, as the evening twilight of June and the sky bright enough time increases by Mercury a few degrees above the eastern horizon. This makes Mercury difficult a target, if you use binoculars.
Moon and sun
OnJune 6 in North America, the waning crescent Moon 6 or 7 degrees above Jupiter's left before dawn. 10 Mercury should be visible in the month of June has left his binoculars 8 or 9 down and a sort of thin moon, a half hour before sunrise. At the same time, 11 days, a very thin crescent moon is visible to about 6 degrees to Mercury on the left.
The moon is waxing again at dusk on the 14th June, when there are 4 or 5 degrees below Venus. Then the moon, Regulus, Mars and Saturn is June 16, 17,and 18. The moon is full on June 26, when it is partially eclipsed by the shadow of the Earth at the dawn of western North America.
The sun reaches the solstice at 07:28 EDT on June 21, the beginning of summer in the northern hemisphere and winter in the Southern Hemisphere.
