Venus and Jupiter slowly combine for a good show

In the month of June we will have a full moon on the 2nd and a new moon on the 16th. The Summer Solstice occurs at 9:38 PM on the 21st. Mercury can be seen in the morning sky from the 9th to the 30th. Venus can be seen in the evening sky and reaches greatest elongation on the 6th. Venus will be within 2.5 degrees of the Beehive Cluster (M44) on the 10th and closes to within 1 degree on the 13th. Venus and Jupiter close on each other throughout the month, reaching a spectacular separation of only 0.3 degrees on the 30th. Jupiter is low in the western evening sky, moving from Cancer into Leo and setting near midnight. Jupiter will be within 7 degrees of Venus on the evening of the 19th with Jupiter nearby and the next day the Moon is 6 degrees below and to the left of Jupiter, with Venus nearby. Saturn is visible most of the night in Libra. Uranus is seen in the eastern morning sky in Pisces and sets late in the evening.

Ted Stroman of the Vancouver Centre of the RASC will be speaking about Lunar Geography and Features Sunshine Coast Arts Centre at 7:30 PM on June 12. Admission is by donation.

On Saturday, June 27, the Sunshine Coast Centre of the RASC will open its observatory at Sechelt Airport. Check out the Sunshine Coast Centre website for more information on the observatory opening and astronomy: www.coastastronomy.ca