With June come the first pleasantly mild nights of 2024, but they’re relatively short and devoid of any special events this year. Even the planets will be elusive this month, before reemerging into view over the course of the summer. Catching a glimpse of these wandering celestial bodies will be more of a fun challenge than an actual show.
The inner planets warm up near the Sun
Viewing conditions will vary for Mercury’s occasional forays into the morning or evening sky. In early June, Mercury struggles to pull itself above the east-northeastern horizon shortly before sunrise, a last act in an already unfavourable viewing window that began last month. The tiny copper dot is visible only in the first week of June, before it gets too close to the Sun. Experienced observers will have an opportunity to take on a major challenge, that of trying to spot the Jupiter-Mercury conjunction on June 4 at around 4:45 a.m., very low above the perfectly clear east-northeastern horizon. The two planets will hang a mere 1/6th of a degree apart, but they are immersed in the glow of dawn, which makes viewing very tricky. In the last days of the month, you’ll only have a short window for glimpsing Mercury at twilight, unfortunately another unfavourable window of opportunity.
Venus, on the other hand, is completely hidden. This year does not bode well for observing the Shepherd’s Star, which was visible at dawn in the first half of 2024 and will be visible at twilight in the second half. Venus reaches superior conjunction on June 4, eliminating all chances of seeing it this month. It will gradually return after sunset in July.
Mars remains low-key
Mars is still timidly heading for opposition on January 15, 2025. In June, the Red Planet remains a morning star whose brightness finally manages to pass the symbolic magnitude +1 threshold at the end of the month. Mars already appears as an easily identifiable orange point of light, trekking through Aries over the next few weeks. It stays low above the horizon, however, and it’s still far too early to catch satisfactory views of its surface details in a telescope, either through visual observation or planetary imaging techniques.
Jupiter, the timid giant
After having reached solar conjunction on May 18, Jupiter reappears in the morning sky in June, low on the east-northeastern horizon shortly before sunrise. Although not nearly as bright as when it hangs higher in the sky, the giant planet is already easily identifiable, about 7 degrees below the Pleiades.
Saturn shines solo
Saturn graces us with its persistent brightness for the entire second half of the night. The ringed planet rises after 2 a.m. in early June, and at around 12:30 a.m. at the end of the month. It’s easy to spot because it’s the only first-magnitude starlike object between Aquarius and Pisces. It can also be located using the Great Square of Pegasus: Draw an imaginary line between Scheat (β Pegasi) and Markab (α Pegasi), the two stars forming the right-hand side of the square, towards the horizon. Saturn lies about 1½ times the distance between these two stars, extending out from this line. A telescope will readily reveal the planet’s rings, although experienced observers will quickly notice that the giant planet is invariably approaching its equinox. Its northern hemisphere is less and less tilted in our direction and its rings are now flattened out into a thick line, whereas they still appeared as “ears” on either side of the planet only a few months ago.
Celestial rendezvous
In addition to the conjunction between Mercury and Jupiter on the morning of June 4, we can admire some beautiful celestial formations when the Moon visits certain planets. The Moon will hang 7 degrees to the right of Mars on the morning of June 2, then 7 degrees to its left on the 3rd, high enough to offer a clear view as of 4 a.m. On June 5, the Moon can be found 4 degrees above Jupiter, but this will be a difficult view, only 20 minutes before sunrise. Lastly, the waning gibbous Moon forms a lovely duo with Saturn in the second half of the night of June 26-27.
The solstice will occur on June 20 at 4:51 p.m., marking the start of astronomical summer in the Northern Hemisphere, which will last 93 days, 15 hours and 53 minutes—the longest of all seasons.
Clear skies!
