Six Planets are Visible in The Night Sky during June 2020

Some people say that the beauty of the celestial sky at night cannot be compared with anything else. And we’re not here to contradict them, nor to say that they’re right. Taking a good look at the night sky when there aren’t clouds blocking the view can be very inspiring and relaxing. There’s no need even to be superstitious and making a wish each time you see a meteorite or a comet.

Besides the numerous reasons we have to be happy for living on Earth, we should also take into account that this June we’ll get to see six planets on the night sky with the naked eye or a little help.

Mercury starts the show

The first planet from the Sun will show itself in the night sky during the first two weeks on June, and it will be featuring an increase in brightness of 19% on the lucky day of June 13. Mercury will be located underneath the two stars of Gemini, the Twins, Castor and Pollux. You’ll have to look in the west-northwestern sky.

Jupiter and Saturn enter the cosmic scene

The two biggest planets from our Solar System, Jupiter and Saturn, will dance elegantly on the night sky for almost all of June.

While Jupiter will start emerging only several hours after sunset, Saturn will join it ASAP  by positioning itself 5 degrees to the east. While we will be approaching the end of June, the two gaseous giants will start to move away from each other.

Having a volume more than a thousand times bigger than Earth, Jupiter has a tremendous role in the Solar System by acting like a vacuum cleaner against numerous space rocks passing by. Jupiter has a huge gravity, and we sure wouldn’t want to get too close regardless of how beautiful the planet is.

Too bad all the planets are seen by the naked eye just as bright spots, and we won’t get to delight our eyes with the beautiful and iconic rings of Saturn. Although there has long been a mystery for how did Saturn get those rings, the explanation is relatively simple. Saturn’s rings could form themselves when cosmic objects like comets and asteroids broke up in orbit around the planet due to the gaseous giant’s strong gravity. The pieces of these objects kept smashing with each other and shattering even more. The pieces gradually spread around Saturn, and the final outcome is obvious: there cometh the rings.

Mars cannot be late for the party

With NASA planning to launch humans to Mars if everything goes well with the Artemis program, the Red Planet appears from the first day of June, and it seems like saying ‘I’m right here waiting for you, humans!’. Mars will appear as it’s part of the Aquarius constellation, although the distance between them is almost beyond human comprehension.

Neptune approaches with shyness

On June 13, Neptune is located 1.6 degrees above Mars and two hours before sunrise. But this time you’ll need a telescope, as Neptune is pretty shy. There’s no wonder why the planet is an ice giant. Although we would like to get closer to it, the planet is very cold, both figuratively and literally speaking.

Venus

Venus is normally present at duty on the night sky after every sunset, but we also had to include the planet on this list. You just can’t miss Venus from the night sky if there are no clouds blocking the view. The planet is the third brightest object after the Sun and the Moon. Of course, Venus is only visible during the night.

With or without planets on the night sky that we can delight our eyes upon, we should always consider ourselves lucky to be Earthlings and be thankful for it.

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