The Night Sky This Month

Northern HemisphereIan Morison tells us what we can see in the Northern Hemisphere night sky during June 2018.The PlanetsJupiter.Jupiter reached opposition on May 8th, so will be visible during the evening after darkness has fallen. It shines at magnitude -2.5 (falling to -2.3 during the month) and has a disk some 44 (falling to 41.5) arc seconds across. Jupiter's equatorial bands and sometimes the Great Red Spot (see 'highlights' for the times when it crosses Jupiter's central meridian) and up to four of its Galilean moons will be visible in a small telescope. Sadly, moving slowly westwards in Libra during the month, Jupiter is heading towards the southern part of the ecliptic and will only have an elevation of ~20 degrees when crossing the meridian. Atmospheric dispersion will thus hinder our view and it might be worth considering purchasing the ZWO Atmospheric Dispersion Corrector to counteract its effects. Saturn.Saturn, comes into opposition on the 27th of June and so will be visible during all t