Six months have zoomed past. Let’s take a moment to herald Saturn’s role this month. Saturn shines like a yellowish-white star with moderate brilliance. However, don’t get too excited as you still won’t be able to see the rings without a telescope. You will be able to view it for another week or so. And it will be the brightest between June 12 and June 17.
Highlights
Mark June 21 in your calendar as we welcome the Summer Solstice in the Northern Hemisphere and the Winter Solstice in the Southern Hemisphere. We will also witness the longest day and the shortest night of the year. A solstice happens when the sun’s zenith is at its furthest point from the equator. In the June solstice, it reaches its northernmost point and the Earth’s North Pole tilts directly towards the sun, at about 23.4°. It’s also known as the northern solstice because it occurs when the sun is directly over the Tropic of Cancer in the Northern Hemisphere. During the June solstice, the midnight sun is visible through the night, in all areas south of the Arctic Circle to the North Pole.
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Get ready to witness a micromoon tonight. As the name suggests this phenomenon occurs as a full moon or a new moon coincides with apogee
On June 15, Saturn lies opposite the sun and remains visible to us all night. At oppositions, planets come closest to Earth, so Saturn will shine her brightest and looks her largest when viewed through a telescope. The best times to look at Saturn with a telescope is when it is at its highest, which would be when it is up in the south, from late evening to early morning.
Not far behind you will see Venus dazzling too but you can only spot this planet early in the morning. By the end of the month, Venus will rise 2.5 hours before the Sun.
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A really great sight awaits us on June 20 and June 21. The waning crescent moon will appear near Venus in the early pre-dawn eastern sky in the morning. And on June 30, Venus will appear to rise right out of the well-known Pleiades star cluster.