The moon is nearly at its new phase as June begins, and by June 3 it occults Mercury in the morning sky, visible from the southern part of Africa and parts of Antarctica. June 10, the moon brushes by Regulus, the bright star in Leo, the Lion. The next night, Jupiter repeats a close encounter that has occurred in each month since last December and will continue right through to September. The giant gas planet is in just the right position to meet up every month for a long stretch. The moon is full June 20, and meets up with Neptune June 25 — an occultation for Europe.
Mercury shines brightly all month in the morning sky, pairing up with the nearby moon June 3.
Venus is too near the sun to be seen.
Mars is in retrograde motion for most of the month, giving observers more time to take advantage of the Red Planet’s close approach to Earth. Every 2.1 years, Mars and Earth meet up during Mars’ opposition, meaning it is directly opposite the sun. So, Mars rises in the east at sunset, and sets at sunrise, making it well placed in the nighttime sky for most of the summer.
Jupiter is in the western evening sky, meeting up, once again, with the moon June 11. The giant planet holds great gravitational sway in the inner Solar System, causing Earth and Venus to orbit in a tight resonance. For every 13 orbits of Venus, Earth orbits eight times, which partially explains why transits of Venus across the sun’s face occur at seemingly odd intervals — a pattern that repeats every 243 years, with pairs of transits separated by eight years, and then long gaps of 121.5 years and 105.5 years. (Notice the 16-year difference between the two long intervals.) There won’t be another one of these transits of Venus until 2117.
Saturn is visible throughout the night in the southern sky in the little-known constellation Ophiuchus. Little known to the average person because it occupies a place in the zodiac, but is completely missing from astrological computations. Many people place great importance on mystical astrology, but ignore the fact that its predictions are far out of sync with reality. The missing 13th zodiacal constellation is just one such error.
Uranus is a tough observation in the eastern morning sky, just before sunrise.
Neptune rises after midnight and enters retrograde motion at mid-month.
— James Edgar has had an interest in the night sky all his life. He joined The Royal Astronomical Society of Canada in 2000 and is now the Society’s president, assistant editor and a contributor to the renowned Observer’s Handbook, and production manager of the bi-monthly RASC Journal. He was given the RASC Service Award at the 2012 General Assembly in Edmonton.
