June is never a great month for amateur astronomers, apart from observing the Sun. Astronomical twilight lasts throughout the night, especially later in the month.
Planets:
Mercury: Mercury is not well placed, but might be picked up in the morning sky in the first half of the month. It has an elongation of 24° at the start of June, which is your best time to pick it up.
Venus: Venus reaches greatest eastern elongation on the 6th June and is 45° east of the Sun. It also reaches its brightest, with a magnitude of -4.7°. The apparent diameter is rapidly increasing from 23° at the start of the month to 33° by the end of June. The phase drops from 50% at the start of the month, to a crescent of 35% by the end.
Mars is still visible in the evening sky in Cancer. During the month it passes south of the Beehive Cluster (M44), but by the time it’s dark enough to make out the cluster, they will have set. The disc size drops to 4.5 arc seconds this month and it is very low in the western sky by the time it gets dark. It is a difficult object now.
Jupiter is now a prominent object in the morning sky, but you’ll need to be up by 3 a.m. to see it properly!
Saturn is also a morning object in Aquarius, but is still low in the sky this month, rising around 1 a.m. (BST).
Uranus and Neptune are morning objects, but very poorly placed this month.
The Sun
Solar activity is still increasing and solar observations are a good idea. Take great care to never look directly at the Sun, or directly through an optical instrument.
Ensure a proper filter is in place or project the image onto card.
As I am writing this, I am aware of a couple of sizeable sunspot groups visible.
Meteor Showers: There are no favourable meteor showers this month.
Aurora: The increased solar activity should raise the possibility of seeing the aurora borealis, although the lack of darkness means this is unlikely before the Autumn. Download an App that warns you of auroral activity in readiness for the darker nights.
Moon
4th June: Full Moon 10th June: Moon is at last quarter
18th June: New Moon 26th June: Moon is at First Quarter
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