An hour after sunset look in the west for bright Saturn 14 degrees lower right of the Moon, and faint Mars 8 degrees lower right of Saturn. The gap between Mars and Saturn is closing by half a degree per day, and in 16 days, on June 17, Mars will overtake Saturn. Wait until darkness falls, then use binoculars to see the Beehive cluster of stars just upper right of Saturn. In the first few evenings of June, Saturn goes past the southern edge of the cluster, which lies some 600 light years away.

As the sky darkens, look for Regulus, heart of Leo, just 3 degrees lower right of the fat crescent Moon.

The brightest "star" in south-southeast at dusk and drifting through south as June progresses is actually the planet Jupiter. That giant world is bright enough to catch your attention, but if you face the western sky you can find three additional planets, described tomorrow.

Unlike the nearby Moon, faraway planets change their positions slowly, so a description of their arrangement at dusk will remain roughly true for several days. If the landscape to your west-northwest (the direction of sunset) has not too high a profile, you'll be able to spot the lowest one, Mercury, closest planet to the Sun, in a fine appearance lasting most of June. Mars is 28 degrees to upper left of Mercury and within 7 degrees lower right of bright Saturn in the west. These three planets and Jupiter in SSE form a long line across the sky, in order Mercury-Mars-Saturn-Jupiter. Also along that line, between Saturn and Jupiter, you'll find the Moon, lying midway between the stars Regulus and Spica this evening, 27 degrees from each.

This evening, Mars and Saturn are just 6 degrees apart and closing. Look for the star Spica, marking the spike of grain in Virgo's hand, 15 degrees lower left of the Moon and 17 degrees upper right of bright Jupiter.

At dusk Spica is just 3 degrees lower left of the Moon. Bright Arcturus passes south of overhead before nightfall. You can use the handle of the Big Dipper to "follow the arc to Arcturus and drive a spike to Spica."

Early this evening, bright Jupiter is 8 degrees left of the Moon, while the star Spica is 9 or 10 degrees to Moon's upper right. In the west, Mars is now just 5 degrees lower right of Saturn; can you fit both within the same binocular field? Mercury is 25 degrees lower right of Mars.

At dusk, bright Jupiter is 8 degrees to Moon's upper right. In the west, Saturn and Mars appear 4.7 degrees apart, just a little more than the 4.5-degrees gap between the "Twin" stars of Gemini to their lower right, Pollux and Castor. Pollux and Mercury are to lower right of Mars, by 11 degrees and 24 degrees.

See a red star! This evening as sky darkens, look 11 degrees to Moon's lower left for the red supergiant star Antares, the heart of the Scorpion. Despite this star's great distance of some 600 light years, and its low surface temperature compared to the Sun's, it still shines in our sky at first magnitude.

At dusk, look for Antares 2 or 3 degrees to Moon's upper right. In order from southeast to west-northwest, five solar system bodies, Moon-Jupiter-Saturn-Mars-Mercury, span 150 degrees. Jupiter now passes due south before twilight ends.

Rising by 9:56 p.m. tonight in East Lansing, MI, some 40 degrees south of east and 16 degrees lower left of Antares, is the southernmost Full Moon of this year. Indeed, because of an 18- to 19-year precession of "wobbling" of the Moon's orbit, tonight we see the southernmost rising Full Moon in many years and for many to come. Landscape features may delay the observable moonrise by several minutes. Turn around as twilight deepens to look low in west-northwest for Mercury 10 degrees below the "Twins", Pollux and Castor, forming an isosceles triangle. In the west, to the upper left of the Twins, are Mars and Saturn, 3 degrees apart. From East Lansing, the Moon reaches its highest point, due south only 18 degrees up, overnight at 2:05 a.m.

Tonight's Moon rises only half a degree to the north (left) of last night's, and an hour later, at 10:56 p.m. for observers in East Lansing, MI. For the rest of tonight, the Moon resides near the handle of the Teapot of Sagittarius. The glare of the nearly full Moon may prevent you from seeing the 2nd and 3rd-mag. stars with your unaided eye, so use binoculars to pick out the four stars, all within a few degrees of the Moon.

This evening, find Mars and Saturn just 2.2 degrees apart, just under half the separation of the Gemini Twins to their lower right. Mercury is 22 degrees lower right of Saturn and 8 degrees below Pollux, the brighter Twin.

As soon as the sky becomes dark, use binoculars to see Mars within 1.7 degrees lower right of Saturn and near the western edge of the Beehive cluster. On Thursday, Mars will appear within the cluster.

Locate four planets in the current early evening sky. Begin with the strikingly close Saturn-Mars pair just 1.2 degrees apart in the west, and Mercury, Pollux, and Castor in the WNW, to the pair's lower right. Next, find bright Jupiter in the southern sky. The lineup of four planets, Mercury-Mars-Saturn-Jupiter, spans 110 degrees across the sky. Near that line, between Saturn and Jupiter, look for the bright stars Regulus in Leo and Spica in Virgo. Extend the line past Jupiter to find Antares, heart of Scorpius, in the southeast. The Big Dipper helps find several stars: A line extended from the Pointer stars of the Dipper's bowl leads to Polaris, the North Star, in the north. The Big Dipper's curved handle, extended, leads you to Arcturus, high in the south, and Spica, west of Jupiter. Water leaking through the bottom of the Dipper's bowl would trickle onto the back of Leo, the Lion, in the west. Next, look between east and northeast to find the bright Summer Triangle of Vega, Deneb, and Altair. Finally, as the sky darkens, use binoculars or a telescope to see the faint stars of the Beehive cluster surrounding Mars.

In the west an hour after sunset, find faint Mars just 0.8 degree to the right of bright Saturn. They'll appear closest tomorrow evening, marking the 34th anniversary of the Watergate break-in!

In the western sky early this evening, Mars passes within 0.6 degree (just over a moon's width) to the north, or upper right, of Saturn. Mercury is 17 degrees to their lower right. As the sky becomes dark, binoculars show the Beehive cluster just to the lower right of the close pair.

This morning the Moon is at Last Quarter phase, half full and 90 degrees (a quarter-circle) west of the Sun. This evening, Mars is 0.7 degree above Saturn. Mercury is 16 degrees to Saturn's lower right and within 6 degrees to lower left of Pollux.

An hour after sunset, look for Mars 1.1 degrees upper left of Saturn. This week, Mars slowly widens its distance upper left of Saturn, to 2 degrees on June 21, and to 3 degrees on June 23.

Sunset tonight and Wednesday, and sunrise on Wednesday, are the northernmost of the year, as summer begins on Wednesday at 8:26 a.m. EDT. Tonight at dusk, Mercury, "rounding the bend" of its orbit, reaches its greatest angular distance from the Sun, 25 degrees this time around, but has already started to drop lower and fade. Look for it 15 degrees lower right of Saturn. Faint Mars is 1.5 degrees to Saturn's upper left.

The center of our Galaxy, just west of the Teapot of Sagittarius, reaches its high point in the south, within a quarter-hour before the middle of the night (halfway from sunset to sunrise), which occurs at 1:40 a.m. in East Lansing. Follow the Milky Way river of light east of overhead through the Summer Triangle, then downward through Cassiopeia and Perseus in the northeast. When we look at the Great Cygnus Star Cloud high in the east, we are peering into our own curving spiral arm, through stars which lie ahead of us and slightly inward from our orbit of revolution around the center of our Galaxy. Binoculars spectacularly reveal the haze of the Cygnus Star Cloud to consist of large numbers of stars! That star cloud, easily found near the main axis of the Northern Cross, passes nearly overhead two hours earlier each month, and so in the late evening by late in August.

Soon after morning twilight gets underway on Wednesday, watch for Venus rising in ENE 21 degrees lower left of the waning crescent Moon, and the beautiful Pleiades star cluster 7 degrees upper left of Venus. Moon appears 9 degrees upper right of Venus 1-1/2 hours before sunrise on Thursday.

On Friday 1-1/2 hours before sunup, look in east-northeast for Venus 7 degrees right of the waning crescent Moon, and the Pleiades star cluster 6 degrees upper left of Venus and 4 degrees to upper right of the Moon.

Last chance to see the old crescent Moon comes on Saturday. About an hour before sunrise, find bright Venus in ENE, then look for the very thin Moon very low, 18 degrees to Venus' lower left. Watch for Aldebaran, eye of Taurus, rising 10 degrees lower left of Venus and 12 degrees right of the Moon and a bit lower. As sunrise approaches (for mid-Michigan) the old crescent is about 30 hours before New.

Jupiter now passes due south, more than a third of the way toward overhead, just over half an hour after sunset, for the latitude of East Lansing, MI. Binoculars easily show Jupiter's brightest moon Ganymede after dark tonight, closely west (right) of the planet. The other three bright moons, Io, Europa, and Callisto, all appear to the left of the planet tonight, and closer in.

New Moon occurs today at 12:05 p.m. EDT, and won't be seen until Monday at dusk. Low in WNW an hour after sunset this evening, faint Mars is 4 degrees upper left of Saturn, and fading Mercury has sunk 11 degrees to Saturn's lower right.

By sunset in mid-Michigan, the Moon's age has passed 33 hours. Look half an hour after sunset for the very slender young crescent Moon very low in west-northwest. Using binoculars about half an hour later as the sky darkens, try for Pollux within 3 degrees above and slightly right of the Moon, Castor 6 degrees to Moon's upper right, Mercury 9 degrees to Moon's left and a little higher, and bright Saturn 11 degrees to Mercury's upper left. Faint Mars is 4.5 degrees upper left of Saturn.

An hour after sunset, find the 2.4-day old Moon low in WNW, with Saturn 6 degrees to its upper left, and Mars 5 degrees upper left of Saturn. Lower and more difficult are the Twins far to Moon's lower right, and Mercury 6 degrees below the Moon.

An hour after sunset, look in W to WNW for the crescent Moon, with Mars 1-1/2 degrees below it, Regulus 14 degrees to Moon's upper left, and Saturn just over 5 degrees lower right of Mars. For the next week, Mercury stays 10 degrees lower right of Saturn, but is fading rapidly and sinking lower, keeping pace with departing Saturn.

As the sky darkens, the star Regulus, heart of Leo, can be found within 2 degrees to Moon's lower left. Dim Mars and bright Saturn are 6 degrees apart, lying 13 and 19 degrees lower right of the Moon.

Note lineup of three objects to lower right of the Moon at dusk: Regulus 11 degrees lower right of Moon, Mars 13 degrees lower right of Regulus, Saturn just over 6 degrees lower right of Mars. Extend the line east from the Moon toward Spica and Jupiter (which the Moon will overtake July 3-5) and Antares (which the Moon will reach on July 7).

Please send any comments, suggestions, or questions to
Shane Horvatin: hovati3@msu.edu