JUNE
1 Moon passes Mars
2 First Quarter
7 Moon at apogee (251,999 miles from Earth)
11 Full Moon – “Strawberry Moon”
14 Moon passes Pluto
18 Last Quarter Moon passes Saturn and Neptune
22 Moon passes Venus and Uranus
23 Moon at perigee (225,668 miles from Earth)
25 New Moon passes Jupiter
27 Moon passes Mercury
29 Moon passes Mars
News of the Worlds
Early in the evening, we get a last view of Jupiter (mag. -1.9). Our largest planet sets around 9:30 at the beginning of June, then disappears into the setting Sun, reaching conjunction on June 24.
Mercury (mag.-1.5, dimming to mag.0) also has a good evening-sky appearance beginning June 6, joining Jupiter on the 8th right after sunset, moving through Gemini where it meets a very slender crescent Moon on the 27th, and ending June next to M44, the Beehive cluster, in Cancer. Our innermost planet reaches its greatest elongation (26° east of the setting Sun) on July 4.
Mars (mag.1.2) meets the Moon on June 1 in Leo, passing Regulus, the constellation’s brightest star, on June 16.
Saturn (mag.1.2) rises around 2:30 AM on June 1 in Pisces, progressing to a 12:30 AM rising by month’s end. Its largest moon, Titan, transits the planet’s disk at 4:11 AM on June 16. Using binoculars, try to spot Neptune (mag.7.8) which appears to the upper left of Saturn.
Venus (mag.-4.4), just past its greatest elongation (46° west of the rising Sun) on May 31, moves eastward through Pisces, traversing Aries June 10-28, and ending the month in Taurus. It’s joined by the waning crescent Moon on June 22 – also a good opportunity to use binoculars to spot Uranus (mag.5) which lies nearby below and to the right of the Pleiades star cluster.
The Summer Solstice occurs June 20 at 10:42 PM EDT. Happy Summer!