Sky and Telescope - June 2015 - 46

OBSERVING

Planetary Almanac
Sun and Planets, June 2015

Mercury

June

Sun

Right Ascension Declination

Elongation

Magnitude

Diameter

Illumination

Distance

Uranus
Neptune
Pluto

0h
22h
ASCENSION

+30°

Mars

+20°

Pleiades

+10°

TA U R U S

12

0.549

+16° 58′

16° Mo

+2.6

11.0″

10%

0.612

4h 25.2m

+17° 45′

22° Mo

+0.8

8.8″

28%

0.760

5h 01.5m

+20° 16′

22° Mo

-0.1

7.1″

49%

0.942

7h

50.8m

+23° 41′

45° Ev

-4.4

22.1″

53%

0.756

8h

31.1m

+21° 15′

45° Ev

-4.5

24.7″

47%

0.675

9h 06.3m

+18° 15′

45° Ev

-4.6

28.1″

41%

0.595

9h 32.5m

+15° 18′

43° Ev

-4.6

31.8″

35%

0.524

4h

49.0m

+22° 56′

4° Ev

+1.5

3.7″

100%

2.546

5h

33.7m

+23° 56′

1° Mo

+1.5

3.6″

100%

2.570

6h 15.1m

+24° 08′

4° Mo

+1.6

3.6″

100%

2.583

9h 16.6m

+16° 46′

66° Ev

-1.9

34.6″

99%

5.690

9h

35.3m

+15° 16′

43° Ev

-1.8

32.5″

100%

6.066

15h

56.3m

-18° 11′

171° Ev

+0.1

18.5″

100%

8.978

15h 48.7m

-17° 52′

141° Ev

+0.2

18.1″

100%

9.172

1h 13.5m

+7° 06′

65° Mo

+5.9

3.5″

100%

20.406

22h

45.8m

-8° 42′

105° Mo

+7.9

2.3″

100%

29.690

16

19h

02.2m

-20° 38′

160° Mo

+14.1

0.1″

100%

31.936

18h

20 h

16 h

Vega

PISCES

LEO

Jupiter

+30°

C AN C ER

20

VIRGO

6h

Venus

Regulus

OPHIUCHUS

GEMINI

Castor
Pollux

AQU ILA

Uranus

8h

10 h

Arcturus

HERCULES

PEGASUS

12h

14 h
BOÖTES

CYGNUS

ARIES

Mercury

0%

Planet disks at left have south up, to match the view in many telescopes. Blue ticks indicate the pole currently tilted
toward Earth.

10"

RIGHT

12.2″

The table above gives each object's right ascension and declination (equinox 2000.0) at 0 h Universal Time on selected
dates, and its elongation from the Sun in the morning (Mo) or evening (Ev) sky. Next are the visual magnitude and
equatorial diameter. (Saturn's ring extent is 2.27 times its equatorial diameter.) Last are the percentage of a planet's disk
illuminated by the Sun and the distance from Earth in astronomical units. (Based on the mean Earth-Sun distance, 1 a.u.
is 149,597,871 kilometers, or 92,955,807 international miles.) For other dates, see SkyandTelescope.com/almanac.

16

2h

-

16

Pluto

4h

3° Mo

12.8m

16

Neptune

+40°

+19° 15′

4h

1

Uranus

1.017

30

Saturn

-

30
Saturn

31′ 28″

1

16

-26.8

30
Jupiter

-

26.7m

1

Mars

Jupiter

+23° 13′

4h

16

30

6h 33.6m

30
16

1

1.014

21

Mars

-

11

30

31′ 33″

1

Venus
16

-26.8

30

1

-

1

Mercury

+21° 57′

21

Venus

4h 33.5m

11

30

21

11

1
30

June 1

+10°
Betelgeuse

Procyon

0°

9

-10°
-20°
-30°
-40°

DECLINATION

Rigel

E RI DA NUS

CETUS

AQU AR IU S

Neptune

6

CAPRICORNU S

ECLI

Pluto
PTIC

Fomalhaut

LOCAL TIME OF TRANSIT
10 am
8 am
6 am

4 am

SAGITTARIUS
2 am

June
2- 3

L I B R A June

Saturn

27

23
Spica

E Q U AT O R

0°

ORION
-10°

CORVUS
H Y D R A

CANIS
MAJOR

4 pm

Sirius

2 pm

Antares

SC O RPIU S
Midnight
10 pm

-30°

8 pm

6 pm

The Sun and planets are positioned for mid-June; the colored arrows show the motion of each during the month. The Moon is plotted for evening dates in the Americas when it's waxing (right
side illuminated) or full, and for morning dates when it's waning (left side). "Local time of transit" tells when (in Local Mean Time) objects cross the meridian - that is, when they appear due
south and at their highest - at mid-month. Transits occur an hour later on the 1st, and an hour earlier at month's end.

46

June 2015 sky & telescope

-20°

-40°
http://www.SkyandTelescope.com/almanac
Sky and Telescope - June 2015

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Sky and Telescope - June 2015
