Summer has officially arrived and while looking up at the stars has been hard lately, we can still look down on Earth from the GOES East satellite. Here’s a loop of the Earth and it’s weather. At the end, you can see how the Earth’s tilt is shown as the sun sets across North America.
Now, if you want to get outside and look at the stars, that’s going to be difficult for this week with the frequent showers and thunderstorms that can leave clouds in our sky at night — but there are some things you should start looking for.
Stargazing in the summer is hard because the nights are short and you have to stay up to have a dark sky, and also the air is more humid reducing the visibility of distant objects.
However, appearing before midnight are Saturn and Jupiter. Both of those planets will be in the sky after they rise at 10:30 p.m. Look to the southeast to see them right next to each other. As we go through the rest of this year, these planets will be getting closer and closer and eventually reaching a rare conjunction on December 21. This is when the planets will meet in the sky. The last time this happened was 20 years ago.
If you are an early riser, then you’ll be treated with four planets visible in the sky before sunrise. Venus will be in the Eastern sky, Mars will be in the SE sky, and Jupiter and Saturn will be hanging out in the SW sky. Remember, Jupiter will always be the brightest of the pair.
Happy Viewing!