The night sky in June

Although there are no longer five planets visible in the west after sunset, the two brightest naked-eye worlds, Venus and Jupiter, continue to put on quite a show, dominating the western sky after dusk. They are becoming more and more eye-catching as they approach a beautiful conjunction (close pairing) tomorrow.

You can't miss them - they're so bright! They're separated by less than the width of a finger held at arm's length, yet they're at very different distances from us. Venus is 11 light-minutes (192 million kilometres) from Earth this evening, and Jupiter is almost five times farther at 50 light-minutes (903 m km).

Above them shine the much fainter stars Castor and Pollux, distant by 34 and 52 light-years, respectively (320 trillion and 490 trillion kilometres).

During the rest of the month, Venus and Jupiter will still appear strikingly close together, but the gap between them widens daily. By late June, Jupiter will be disappearing down into the glow of sunset, and Venus will remain in bright view. If you have a pair of binoculars, point them towards Jupiter, you'll see up to four small points of light nearby; they are Jupiter's four largest (of 39) moons.

June activities

An observation for the public will be held from 11 a.m. on Saturday at Great Siege Square (opposite the Law Courts), Valletta. Telescopes and special filters will be available during this observation of the Sun.

Visit the Astronomical Society's Website at www.maltastro.org for the latest information on all its activities.