Look for three planets tonight: Jupiter, Mars, Saturn. All three can be seen easily on these June evenings. You’ll be looking along the ecliptic, or path the sun travels across our sky. The charts below will show you where to look.
On June 3, 2014 – or any night, anytime soon – look for the planet Jupiter first. It’s the brightest starlike object in the evening sky now, and it’s in the west at nightfall.Then look along the ecliptic for the planet Mars. It’s right next to the star Spica in the constellation Virgo. If you’re in the N. Hemisphere, look south for Mars and Spica. If you’re in the S. Hemisphere, they’ll be in the north.Finally, look for Saturn. It’s ascending in the eastern half of the sky dome as night falls.
Deborah Byrd created the EarthSky radio series in 1991 and founded EarthSky.org in 1994. Prior to that, she had worked for the University of Texas McDonald Observatory since 1976, and created and produced their Star Date radio series. Today, she serves as Editor-in-Chief of this website. She has won a galaxy of awards from the broadcasting and science communities, including having an asteroid named 3505 Byrd in her honor. In 2020, she won the Education Prize from the American Astronomical Society, the largest organization of professional astronomers in North America. A science communicator and educator since 1976, Byrd believes in science as a force for good in the world and a vital tool for the 21st century. "Being an EarthSky editor is like hosting a big global party for cool nature-lovers," she says.
Bruce McClure served as lead writer for EarthSky's popular Tonight pages from 2004 to 2021, when he opted for a much-deserved retirement. He's a sundial aficionado, whose love for the heavens has taken him to Lake Titicaca in Bolivia and sailing in the North Atlantic, where he earned his celestial navigation certificate through the School of Ocean Sailing and Navigation. He also wrote and hosted public astronomy programs and planetarium programs in and around his home in upstate New York.
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