Sky & Telescope - USA (2020-06)

44 JUNE 2020 • SKY & TELESCOPE

The Sun and planets are positioned for mid-June; the colored arrows show the motion of each during the month. The Moon is plotted for evening dates in the Americas when it’s waxing (right side

illuminated) or full, and for morning dates when it’s waning (left side). “Local time of transit” tells when (in Local Mean Time) objects cross the meridian — that is, when they appear due south and at

their highest — at mid-month. Transits occur an hour later on the 1st, and an hour earlier at month’s end.

The table above gives each object’s right ascension and declination (equinox 2000.0) at 0h Universal Time on selected dates,

and its elongation from the Sun in the morning (Mo) or evening (Ev) sky. Next are the visual magnitude and equatorial diameter.

(Saturn’s ring extent is 2.27 times its equatorial diameter.) Last are the percentage of a planet’s disk illuminated by the Sun and

the distance from Earth in astronomical units. (Based on the mean Earth–Sun distance, 1 a.u. is 149,597,871 kilometers, or

92,955,807 international miles.) For other dates, see skyandtelescope.org.

PLANET VISIBILITY(40°N, naked-eye, approximate)Mercury: visible at dusk through to

the 14th•Venus: reappears at dawn on the 10th•Mars: a bright predawn object throu ghout June•

Jupiter and Saturn: roughly 5° apart all month, rise in the late evening and climb high before dawn

PEGASUS

CAPRICORNUS

AQUARIUS

Fomalhaut

Rigel

PISCES

Pleiades

Vega

HERCULES

CYGNUS

SCORPIUS

OPHIUCHUS

SAGITTARIUS

AQUILA

ERIDANUS CETUS

ARIES

TAURUS Betelgeuse

CANIS

MAJOR

Sirius

ORION

CANCER

Pollux

Castor

Procyon

Arcturus

CORVUS

GEMINI

VIRGO

BOÖTES

LIBRA

Spica

LEO

HYDRA

Regulus

Antares

10 am 8 am 6 am 4 am 2 am Midnight 8 pm 6 pm 4 pm 2 pm

RIGHT ASCENSION

4 h 2 h 0 h 22 h 20 h 18 h 16 h 14 h 12 h 10 h 8 h 6 h

DECLINATION

EQUATOR

LOCAL TIME OF TRANSIT

10 pm

+30°

+40°

–20°

–10°

–30°

–40°

0°

+10°

+30°

–20°

+10°

+20°

0°

–10°

–30°

–40°

ECLIPT

IC

Saturn

Uranus

Neptune

Jupiter

Mars

Venus

Mercury

10

16

13

24

June 1^27

June^30

5–6

44 JUNE 2020 • SKY & TELESCOPE

Date Right Ascension Declination Elongation Magnitude Diameter Illumination Distance

Sun^14 h 36.4m +22° 03′ —–26.83^1 ′^33 ′′ —1.014

30 6 h 36.6m +23° 10′ —–26.83 1 ′ 28 ′′ —1.017

Mercury^16 h 17.0m +25° 21′ 23° Ev +0.1 7.6′′ 45% 0.890

11 6 h 54.6m +23° 15′ 22° Ev +1.1 9.4′′ 25% 0.713

21 7 h 00.7m +20° 32′ 15° Ev +3.0 11.3′′ 8% 0.594

30 6 h 42.8m +18 ° 47′ 5° Ev — 12.0′′ 1% 0.560

Venus^14 h 54.5m +23° 43′ 4° Ev — 57.6′′ 0% 0.290

11 4 h 30.0m +20° 37′ 11° M o – 4.0 5 6. 2′′ 2% 0.297

21 4 h 16.3m +18 ° 13′ 25° Mo –4.5 50.2′′ 9% 0.332

30 4 h 17.2m +17 ° 15′ 33° Mo –4.7 43.8′′ 18% 0.381

Mars^122 h 58.8m –9° 06′ 88° Mo 0.0 9.3′′ 85% 1.009

16 23 h 35.7m –5° 38′ 93° Mo –0.2 10.3′′ 84% 0.911

30 0 h 08.2m –2° 30′ 98° Mo –0.5 11.4′′ 84% 0.824

Jupiter 119 h 54.2m –21° 04′ 134° Mo –2.6 4 4.7′′ 100% 4.413

30 19 h 43.1m –21° 37′ 165° Mo –2.7 47.2′′ 100% 4.174

Saturn 120 h 14.4m –20° 01′ 129° Mo +0.4 17.8′′ 100% 9.343

30 20 h 08.3m –20° 23′ 159° Mo +0.2 18.3′′ 100% 9.060

Uranus 16 2 h 27.0m +14° 0 4′ 46° Mo +5.9 3.4′′ 100% 20.489

Neptune^1623 h 27.4m –4° 41′ 94° Mo +7.9 2.3′′ 100% 29.836

June Sun & Planets

Mercury

Saturn

Uranus

Neptune 10 "

June 1 11 21 30

1

30

16

11630

16

16

Venus

Jupiter

Mars

JUNE 2020 OBSERVING
Planetary Almanac

PLANET DISKShave south up, to match the

view in many telescopes. Blue ticks indicate the

pole currently tilted toward Earth.