JPL
Careers
Education
Science & Technology
JPL Logo
JPL Logo
Solar System .

What's Up - June 2014

Jun 02, 2014

Your browser cannot play the provided video file(s).

Moon and planet pairings at dawn and dusk. Spot elusive Mercury. Some comets. And more.

Transcript:

What's Up for June. Moon and planet pairings at dawn and dusk. Spot elusive Mercury. Some comets. And more. Hello and welcome. I'm Jane Houston Jones from NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California.

Look for Mercury low in the west-northwest sky just after sunset at the beginning of the month. You'll find it to the lower right of Jupiter. On June 29 and 30 try to spot Jupiter very low on the sunset horizon, below the crescent moon.

It's easy to spot Saturn and Mars when they pair up with the moon. Mars appears to the left of the moon on June 6th, directly above the moon on the 7th, and to the right of the moon on the 8th. And you'll find Saturn above the moon on June 10th and 11th. From a dark sky, you'll see the constellation Scorpius rising below the moon and Saturn.

At dawn, Venus is the bright object just to the left of the moon. The Pleiades star cluster should be visible just above it.

Speaking of dawn, the Dawn spacecraft's two targets, Vesta and Ceres, appear very close to one another in the night sky again this month. Vesta is the brighter of the two, reflecting more light from its surface than Ceres. From June 29th through July 12th the two objects appear only half a degree apart! That's the apparent width of the full moon. You can spot these objects with binoculars or telescopes. NASA's Dawn spacecraft arrives at Ceres in 2015.

Comet PanSTARRS is still visible in telescopes this month, shining at magnitude 8. Astrophotographers will get a chance to image the comet, together with a beautiful and faint spiral galaxy: NGC 3184.

Several faint periodic comets are visible through telescopes this month, too. Comet 209P LINEAR, P/1998 U3 Jager and 154P Brewington.

Comet Siding Spring, discovered by Robert McNaught at the Siding Spring Observatory in New South Wales, Australia, is visible low in the spring sky, in the constellation Fornax. On October 19th, this comet intersects the orbit of Mars and continues to be visible through October.

You can learn about how NASA studies comets, Mars and Saturn and all of NASA's missions at www.nasa.gov.

That's all for this month. I'm Jane Houston Jones.

Download m4v

Related Pages

News .

NASA to Host Virtual Briefing on February Perseverance Mars Rover Landing

News .

NASA InSight’s ‘Mole’ Ends Its Journey on Mars

News .

NASA’s Juno Mission Expands Into the Future

News .

Mars 2020 Perseverance Rover to Capture Sounds From the Red Planet

Image .

Juno's Mission Goes On

Topic .

Solar System

News .

NASA’s Curiosity Rover Reaches Its 3,000th Day on Mars

News .

NASA Extends Exploration for Two Planetary Science Missions

News .

Celebrate the Perseverance Rover Landing With NASA's Student Challenge

Image .

A Hot Spot on Jupiter

About JPL
Who We Are
Executive Council
Directors of JPL
JPL History
Documentary Series
Virtual Tour
Annual Reports
Missions
All
Current
Past
Future
News
All
Earth
Mars
Solar System
Universe
Technology
Galleries
Images
Videos
Audio
Podcasts
Infographics
Engage
JPL and the Community
Lecture Series
Public Tours
Events
Team Competitions
JPL Speakers Bureau
Topics
Solar System
Mars
Earth
Climate Change
Stars and Galaxies
Exoplanets
Technology
JPL Life
For Media
Contacts and Information
Press Kits
More
Asteroid Watch
Robotics at JPL
Subscribe to Newsletter
Social Media
Get the Latest from JPL
Follow Us

JPL is a federally funded research and development center managed for NASA by Caltech.

More from JPL
Careers Education Science & Technology Acquisitions JPL Store
Careers
Education
Science & Technology
Acquisitions
JPL Store
Related NASA Sites
Basics of Spaceflight
Climate Kids
Earth / Global Climate Change
Exoplanet Exploration
Mars Exploration
Solar System Exploration
Space Place
NASA's Eyes Visualization Project
Voyager Interstellar Mission
NASA
Caltech
Privacy
Image Policy
FAQ
Feedback
Site Manager: Veronica McGregor
Site Editors: Tony Greicius, Randal Jackson, Naomi Hartono