By Heather Durham | May 31, 2022
Good day, everyone! Welcome to the month containing our summer solstice. There will be two meteor showers along with a rare arrangement of five planets possibly visible with the naked eye, but even more spectacular with binoculars or access to a larger telescope.
Between the 18th to the 27th or the last two weeks of June, early risers will be able to view a five-planet line passing by a sliver of the final phase of our Strawberry Super-moon. This planet line will consist of Saturn, Jupiter, Mars, Venus and Mercury.
Another more frequent occurrence happens when planets appear to reverse their orbits. They normally appear to head east, but due to the rotation of the earth around our Sun, it only appears as though a given planet may look as though it’s headed west as seen in the diagram below.
Let’s delve in for a deeper look …
June 4. Saturn appears as though it’s going backwards because of the rotation of the Earth around the Sun.
June 7. The Strawberry Moon will be at first quarter.
June 10. The Daytime Arietid Meteor Shower will put on a display today. Coming from the Constellation Aries, the best viewing will be just before dawn.
June 14. The Strawberry Super Moon will be full today. A super moon occurs when the Moon passes closer to the Earth.
June 16. Mercury will be as far away from the Sun as it ever orbits.
June 18. The Moon and Saturn will rise and closely approach one another.
June 20. The Moon will be in its final quarter.
June 21. The first day of summer-midsummer will be today in the Northern Hemisphere. The Moon and Jupiter will rise to the right and closely approach one another.
June 22. Mercury will be at its highest point in the sky. Our Moon and Mars will rise and travel close to each other.
June 23. Mercury will be at its highest place in the sky.
June 26. The Moon and Venus will rise and closely approach one another.
June 27. Today is the day of the June Bootid Meteor Shower. Best viewing times will be just before dawn and dusk. This shower is known as being slow and unpredictable.
References:
Ford, D.F. (2022). Astronomy. Retrieved from in-the-sky.org
Now Next. (February 2022). Planet Parade 2022! Must Watch June 2022 Astronomy Events. Retrieved from youtu.be/jERJa4GKTIE
Milton Observer 