Poster’s Note: The text for this month’s installment from Dee Sharples, “The Sky In June 2024,” is provided below. Those wishing to listen to the article can click on the audio link below.
This month several planets join together in the early morning sky before the sun rises. On June 1st, 30 minutes before sunrise, look for six planets arranged in a straight line from the eastern horizon to high in the southeastern sky. A crescent moon joins the group for the first four days of the month.
The ringed planet Saturn rises first at 2:00 A.M. shining at magnitude 1.0. On June 27th, the planet and a gibbous moon are 3.5° apart. We can almost see the full disk of the rings edge-on which will occur in March 2025.
You’ll need binoculars to find dim Neptune. If you wait until June 28th, the waning gibbous moon will point the way. At 3:30 A.M. EDT, Neptune will be 0.7° due north of the moon.
Mars rises just before 3:30 A.M. at the beginning of the month shining with an orangish hue at magnitude 1.1. By the end of June, it rises just before 2:30 A.M.
Uranus rises at 4:45 A.M. on June 1st. It will be difficult to see in the twilight but if you can spot Mercury shining at magnitude -0.9 close to the horizon, use your binoculars and look west for magnitude 5.9 Uranus. By the end of the month, Mercury will be in the evening sky shining at magnitude -0.7, 30 minutes after sunset.
The giant planet Jupiter rises just before sun and will be easy to spot at magnitude -2.0.
The summer solstice occurs at 4:51 P.M. on June 20th this year. Although it can occur on June 20th, 21st, or 22nd, the most prevalent date is the 21st. It rarely happens on June 22nd with the next one occurring in the year 2203.
