Jupiter returns before dawn
The early evening sky provides views of the night sky’s three brightest stars — Sirius, Canopus, and Alpha (α) Centauri — as well as stunning Milky Way vistas in Vela, Carina, and Crux. Alas, no planets intrude into this wonderful starry background.
You’ll have to wait until later in the night to spot some of our solar system companions.
The first to emerge is glorious Saturn. The ringed planet rises around 1 a.m. local time in early June and some two hours earlier by month’s end. You can find it drifting slowly eastward against the backdrop of eastern Aquarius the Waterbearer. The distant world appears prominent not only because it shines brightly, at
1st magnitude, but also because this constellation’s stars glow quite dimly.
Don’t pass up an opportunity to see Saturn through a telescope. The planet’s ring system tilts 2.2° to our line of sight at the beginning of June and just 2.0° as the month closes. The reduced light from the rings makes it easier to spot some of Saturn’s fainter moons, especially Tethys, Dione, and Rhea. Titan, the brightest of them all, is always easy to see. It orbits Saturn well beyond the other three.
Earth’s Moon occults Saturn on June 27. People in eastern Australia, northern New Zealand, and parts of the Pacific Ocean can witness this event. From Sydney, Australia,
Saturn disappears behind the bright limb of a 65-percent-lit waning gibbous Moon at 12h55m UT, when the Moon stands just 4° above the horizon. Start watching several minutes earlier to guarantee seeing the Moon occult some of Saturn’s moons and its rings. The planet’s reappearance at 13h42m UT proves far easier to observe because it takes place on the dark limb with the
Moon 13° high.
Mars rises next. Like
Saturn, the Red Planet shines at 1st magnitude. The ruddy world moves eastward relative to the background stars nearly as fast as the Sun does, so it maintains a relatively stable rise time in June. Mars pokes above the eastern horizon between 3:00 and 3:30 a.m. local time all month. During this period, it treks from the eastern part of Pisces the Fish into southern Aries the Ram.
Unfortunately, Mars has little to offer telescope owners. Its disk spans only 5" and shows no detail.
Jupiter emerges in morning twilight during the second week of June and becomes prominent before dawn late in the month. At magnitude –2.0, it shines some 15 times brighter than Mars or Saturn. The giant planet resides in the constellation Taurus the Bull, sliding between the Pleiades and Hyades star clusters.
Because it lies low in the sky, Jupiter won’t appear particularly sharp when viewed through a telescope. Still, you should see its flattened disk (measuring 34" across the equator in late June) and its four Galilean satellites: Io, Europa, Ganymede, and Callisto.
Although Mercury remains hidden in the Sun’s glow during most of June, it returns to view after sunset at the end of the month. You can find it 5° high in the west-northwest 45 minutes after the Sun goes down on the 30th. The innermost planet will put on its best evening show of the year in July.
You won’t be able to see Venus at all this month. It passes behind the Sun from our perspective, a configuration known as superior conjunction, June 4.
The starry sky
Nearly 100 years ago, the International Astronomical Union defined the official borders of all 88 constellations. Although the modern sky has a fixed set of constellations, many others have been discarded over the ages. I’ve described several of these in earlier columns, but they were just a small sample of the diversity of star patterns recognized in various cultures.
At this time of year, the familiar shape of Scorpius the Scorpion rides high in our late evening sky. Despite being one of the few constellations that looks like the object or creature for which it was named, it has not always been associated with an arachnid.
Almost as if in keeping with the dangers associated with scorpions, some of the Scorpion’s stars have been seen as a crocodile. Skygazers in far northern Australia called the crocodile “Ingalpir.”
And that’s not the only crocodile gracing the sky. Although our northern friends consider the brightest part of Ursa Major to be the Big
Dipper or the Plough, in parts of central Thailand it represents a crocodile. To confuse matters more, people in northeastern Thailand see these stars as the head of an elephant.
In China, the Scorpion’s tail represents the head of the Azure (or Blue) Dragon, signifying the east and the season of spring. Just as Antares marks the heart of our Scorpion, it denotes the heart of the Dragon and is called “Xin.”
Another famous pattern in the southern sky is the emu. The dark dust lanes that stretch from Scorpius to the Coal Sack in Crux create the main part of the body, while some of Scorpius’ stars form a number of the emu’s feathers.
Crux the Cross also has had several interpretations. Thailand skywatchers see it as a kite. To some Australian Aboriginal people, it is a stingray, with Alpha and Beta (β) Centauri forming a shark that eternally chases it around the sky. And some people even consider the Coal Sack, which forms the emu’s dark head, to be the stingray itself.
HOW TO USE THIS MAP
This map portrays the sky as seen near 30° south latitude. Located inside the border are the cardinal directions and their intermediate points. To find stars, hold the map overhead and orient it so one of the labels matches the direction you’re facing. The stars above the map’s horizon now match what’s in the sky.
The all-sky map shows how the sky looks at:
9 P.M. June 1
8 P.M. June 15
7 P.M. June 30 Planets are shown at midmonth
MAP SYMBOLS
Open cluster Globular cluster Diffuse nebula Planetary nebula Galaxy
STAR MAGNITUDES
Sirius 0.0 3.0
1.0 4.0
2.0 5.0
STAR COLORS
A star’s color depends on its surface temperature.
The hottest stars shine blue
Slightly cooler stars appear white Intermediate stars (like the Sun) glow yellow Lower-temperature stars appear orange
The coolest stars glow red
Fainter stars can’t excite our eyes’ color receptors, so they appear white unless you use optical aid to gather more light
BEGINNERS: WATCH A VIDEO ABOUT HOW TO READ A STAR CHART AT