The night sky for June will be dominated by planets, with all five planets that are visible without a telescope putting in an appearance. In the evening sky, the planets Mercury and Jupiter sit in the western sky just after sunset. Mercury is fain and sits near the bottom of the constellation Gemini. Jupiter, also in Gemini, is just below the two bright stars Caster and Pollux at the top of the constellation. Both planets set less than an hour after sunset. Mars is a bright red object in Virgo, sitting in the southwest about one third of the way up in the sky after sunset. The planet is just to the right of the bright star Spica. Saturn is in the southeast sky in the constellation Libra, and will be a prominent object for the rest of the summer. Those who work the morning shift may want to rise a little early to catch Venus, the brightest of the planets sitting in Taurus just before sunrise. The planet makes a nice pair with the red star Aldebaran in the east. 
June 21st will be the first day of summer in the northern hemisphere and the first day of winter in the southern hemisphere. The Earth rotates about its north and south poles, called its axis, once every day. Because the axis is tipped to the orbit of the Earth around the Sun by about 23.5 degrees, the Sun appears further north in the sky at some times of the year than others. The further north the Sun happens to be, the longer the day and the more sunlight each square meter of the surface will get, making it warmer on average. The summer solstice marks the point where the Sun reaches the furthest north it will be for the whole year, and so is the traditional start of summer for those of us in the northern hemisphere. The term solstice derives from Latin “solstitium” meaning “Sun standing” and comes from the fact that the Sun (sol) does not move much north or south for a few days around the solstice, so it “stands still”.
June Sky 2014
