Planets visible with naked eye as summer progresses

High summer! The Summer Solstice occurred June 21 and we can finally call it summer. And, as with every season, summer will present many wonderful things in the night sky!

Let me go back to last month’s column for just a moment. I asked for any help anyone would want to offer to help Clinton Willis and me to identify a strange object we had photographed the night of April 20. I did get some response, and those, combined with many other opinions from people, literally worldwide, resulted in a consensus that the object was a weather balloon or that people simply didn’t know. I do not understand the coloring on the object and perhaps I will never know for sure what the object was. Thanks to all those who offered opinions.

Summer offers views of the Milky Way that will be the best all year. The Milky Way is the backside of about one-half of the whole Milky Way. The other half can be seen in South America or any place below Earth’s equator.

A dark site is the best place to view the Milky Way and all views of it are aided by using good binoculars. So, dark, clear nights, away from city lights, are best to see the Milky Way and the uncountable number of stars this wonder presents.

Welcome back the naked-eye planets. Jupiter and Saturn are visible in the south-southeast after 11 p.m. As the summer progresses and into autumn, these two gas giants will be seen earlier and earlier in the evening, making for convenient naked-eye or binocular viewing. Of course, if you have a telescope, your views can be spectacular on a calm evening when the air is steady.

It is always best to view the planets over grass or any landscape where there is no cement or blacktop. This helps avoid heat radiating from these surfaces and the view is likely to be less distorted.

Viewing the planets is a search for fine detail, and the steadiest air you can find is best.

Jupiter and Saturn are fairly close to one another in the night sky. Jupiter is easy, being quite bright. Following it, about a fist-width more easterly from Jupiter, is Saturn.

Saturn is fainter than Jupiter but it has a somewhat yellowish color to the naked eye and it won’t twinkle. I am always trying to get good photos of these two giants and, if I get any good ones, I will share them.

Welcome back, Mars! If you look even more easterly than where you found Jupiter and Saturn, you will see a reddish dot about two fist-widths behind the big giants. This will be Mars and it will already show a bit of a reddish color, even to the naked eye. It, too, will not twinkle. Mars will get brighter and brighter as summer goes on because the Earth and Mars are moving closer to one another as the summer continues. In fact, Mars should put on a good show for those with telescopes. Even a few days ago, I saw a polar cap as a bright spot with my six-inch scope. At the last close pass, I attempted to get some photos of the Red Planet but a lingering sand storm prevented me from getting anything good to share with you. This summer is another chance for me to try again to image Mars, quite a difficult planet to image well.

Unfortunately, with the return of summer and the summer skies, we get the return of summer bugs, particularly chiggers and mosquitoes. Put on your repellent to avoid these nasty critters and you will have a better night under the night sky.

We will have thunderstorms and cloudy nights, even in summer, but the summer Milky Way and the return of the large planets will give the sky gazer more than enough joyful viewing!