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This is the Griffith Observatory Sky Report through June 8th, 2016. Here’s what’s happening in the skies of southern California.
Jupiter, in the constellation Leo the Lion, is the brightest planet visible immediately after sunset. It shines brightly and it is located high in the southwest sky during twilight. Jupiter sets in the west at about 1:30 a.m. Binoculars of seven-power or more will let you see Jupiter’s four brightest moons as little glimmers of light clustered around the planet. A telescope can enable you to observe the major cloud belts and other individual storms in the planet’s atmosphere. The most famous of Jupiter’s storms, the centuries-old Great Red Spot, will be visible at 9:00 p.m., PDT on Wednesday, June 1st, Saturday the 4th, and Monday the 6th.
As the evening twilight deepens, the bright orange planet Mars, low in the southeast sky within the boundaries of the constellation Libra the Scales, is easy to see. Mars is well placed for telescopic observation between 8:30 p.m. and 2:30 a.m. The first few nights of June are the best time to observe the giant cloud-enshrouded volcanoes of the Tharsis region of Mars. Mars was at it’s closest to us, 46.8 million miles away, on May 30th. The separation between the planets slowly grows to 47.1 million miles on the 7th. Several of the free public telescopes at Griffith Observatory are showing Mars during the last hour of our nightly observing sessions.
The golden-hued planet Saturn appears about 90 minutes after Mars, and trails behind Mars as both planets trek westward through the southern sky. Saturn is at opposition, the point in our sky directly opposite the sun, on Thursday the 2nd. Saturn rises at sunset, crosses the southern meridian at 1:00 a.m. Daylight Time, and sets at sunrise. Throughout the night of the 2nd, a telescope will show that Saturn’s spectacular rings appear unusually bright, a phenomenon called the Seeliger effect that appears for a few nights at nearly every Saturn opposition.
The planet Mercury rises in the east at about 4:30 a.m., and is more than 5 degrees high when civil twilight starts at about 5:10 a.m. The slender crescent moon is 2 degrees below Mercury on Friday, the 3rd.
The moon is new on Saturday the 4th and returns to the evening sky on Tuesday the 5th. The timing of this new moon makes the weekend of June 4th an excellent one to travel far from the star-masking fog of light pollution to the mountains or desert to see the tattered glow of the edge-on view of our own home galaxy, the Milky Way. Red Rock Canyon State Park and Joshua Tree National Park both offer some of the darkest observing skies within southern California.
Free views of the sun during the day and of the moon, planets, and other celestial objects at night are available to the public in clear weather through Griffith Observatory’s telescopes from Tuesday through Sunday, before 9:30 p.m. Check our website for the schedule. The next free public star party on the grounds of Griffith Observatory, hosted by the Los Angeles Astronomical Society, the Sidewalk Astronomers, and the Planetary Society, will take place on Saturday, June 11th.
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From Griffith Observatory, I’m Anthony Cook and I can be reached at griffithobserver@gmail.com.