June 2007

Mercury, Venus, and Saturn are lined up in the western sky after sunset at the start of June. Find Mercury below Gemini, Venus above it, and Saturn higher still just below the sickle of Leo. On the other side of the sky, Jupiter is rising along with the full moon if you look on the first two nights of the month.

If you want to find Mercury most easily, try it in early June. It's at greatest elongation 23 degrees east of the sun on the 2nd. It doesn't take long for Mercury to be a hard find in the sun glow shortly after sunset or hidden by the trees and houses in your neighborhood a little later. Mercury begins its retrograde movement (seemingly backward motion against the background sky) on the 15th. You won't find it in the sky in the second half of the month. Mercury is already in conjunction with the sun on the 28th. It's actually closest to the sun (aphelion) on the 21st.

For those who've been watching Venus's reign of the evening skies (all year so far), perhaps the climax comes on the 9th. That's when Venus is at greatest elongation 45 degrees east of the sun.

Jupiter is at opposition on the 6th.

Saturn makes a very close pass to the moon on the 19th. Watch Saturn as it pulls closer to Venus this month. Next month, the two will be less than a degree apart from each other.

Mars is at perihelion on the 4th. The Red Planet rises in Pisces before sunrise this month. Spot the Great Square of Pegasus above it.

There are two full moons this month. For watchers in the northern hemisphere, they'll be quite low in the sky happening at southern lunistice--the point in the moon's orbit when it appears furthest south in the sky. For those in the southern hemisphere, the full moons will be rather high. Other lunar events this month include occultations of Antares on the 1st and 28th.

The summer solstice occurs at 18:06 on the 21st.