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The Planets - June 2020

Observing the planets can be extremely rewarding. Everyone remembers the first time they observed Saturn and it's rings or the gas giant Jupiter and it's Galillean Moons.

Mercury

As June's long twilight ends, Mercury is the only planet visible in the western sky and reaches greatest elongation east on the 4th of June.

Venus

Having dominated the western sky for several months, Venus passes in front of the Sun on June 3rd. It reappears in the pre-dawn sky by the 12th rising some 45 minutes before the Sun.

Mars

Mars can be seen towards the southeast in the pre-dawn sky at the start of the month rising at about 01:45 BST whilst lying in Aquarius before moving into Pisces on the 25th. By the end of the month end it rises at about 00:30 BST and its magnitude will have increased to -0.5 and it angular size to 11.4 arc seconds.

Jupiter

As June begins Jupiter rises around 01:15 BST shining at magnitude -2.6 and during the month Jupiter brightens to magnitude -2.7. By month's end Jupiter rises just before 11pm BST. Moving in retrograde motion westwards across the sky Jupiter lies in Sagittarius, initially close to the border with Capricornus.

Saturn

At the beginning of June, Saturn rises at around 01:40 BST, shortly after Jupiter, and by its end at around 11 pm BST. Saturn lies in Capricornus until the 3rd of June when it moves into Sagittarius.

Information collated from Jodrell Bank and Astronomy Now magazine