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This is the Griffith Observatory Sky Report through June 25th, 2020. Here’s what’s happening in the skies of southern California.
The summer season begins at 2:44 p.m., PDT on June 20. This is the June solstice and is the northern hemisphere’s longest day. It is also the start of winter and the shortest day in the southern hemisphere. At Los Angeles, sunrise occurs at 5:42 a.m., the sun sets at 8:08 p.m., and the day is 14 hours and 26 minutes long. At local noon (12:55 p.m.), the sun is 79 degrees above the south point of the horizon, its highest appearance of the year. The summer season ends at the equinox on September 22nd, also the start of fall in the northern hemisphere.
The giant outer planets, Jupiter and Saturn, make an eye-catching pair through the remainder of the year. This week, they should be easy to find low in the southeast sky by 11:00 p.m. Jupiter is the brighter of the two objects, and appears to the right of Saturn, preceding Saturn as the planets arc westward through the sky each night. They are highest, straddling the meridian in the south, at about 3:00 a.m.
Use binoculars to glimpse Jupiter’s four largest moons, the Galilean satellites. The moons resemble stars clustered around the planet, nearly hidden in its glare, in positions that change from night to night. A telescope may let you observe the planet’s banded cloud structure and its colorful oval storm, the Great Red Spot. The Red Spot will face observers in Los Angeles at 2:00 a.m. on the 19th, 22nd, and 24th
Saturn’s rings require a telescope to observe. The northern face of the ring system is currently tilted 21 degrees from appearing edge-on to us. The tilt of Saturn’s ring system relative to Earth is gradually decreasing as part of the planet’s nearly 30-year-long orbital period. The rings will next appear edge-on to us in 2025, before we begin to see the southern face of the rings for nearly 15 years.
The orange gleam of the planet Mars appears in the southeast by 2:00 a.m., and at dawn it will shift higher into the south-southeast sky. Mars is close enough now to the Earth for most telescopes to be able to show at least some detail on its tiny disk. The most noticeable feature is the planet’s bright white South Polar Cap.
The waning crescent moon can be glimpsed before sunrise on the 19th, when it appears just below brilliant planet Venus. Venus is just becoming visible in the morning sky, following its conjunction with the sun earlier this month.
The moon is new on the 20th.On the 22nd, it can be spotted again, as a waxing crescent, low in the west-northwest after sunset. On that evening appears to the lower left bright stars Pollux, closest to the moon, and Castor, both of Gemini the Twins. On the 25th, the moon sets at 11:55 p.m.
Because of the measures in place that are intended to reduce the spread of the COVID-19 Corona virus, Griffith Observatory remains closed until further notice. Consequently, all public telescopes are closed, and all public events have been cancelled. Please check the Griffith Observatory homepage for current information and continued updates of the situation.
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From Griffith Observatory, I’m Anthony Cook, and I can be reached at Anthony.Cook@lacity.org.