Jupiter and Juno in June

June has arrived. Summer is beginning, the weather is beautiful, gardens are growing, and Jupiter is bright in our early evening skies.

Image taken by NASA's Cassini spacecraft on Dec. 1, 2000, shows details of Jupiter's Great Red Spot and other features that were not visible in images taken earlier, when Cassini was farther from Jupiter. Image credit: NASA/JPL/University of Arizona. http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/pia02852

The month of June is named after Juno, the patron goddess of Rome. In Roman mythology, Juno was the daughter of Saturn and sister, and also wife, of Jupiter, with whom she had her children, Mars and Vulcan. Most of the planets and their moons are named after mythological gods and goddess.

The Goddess Juno in the House of Dreams, Luis Lopez Y Piquer.  Image Credit: Wikipedia Commons

Juno is also the name of an exciting robotic explorer on its way to Jupiter right now. The Juno spacecraft, launched in 2011, will arrive at Jupiter in 2016 and fall into orbit around the gas giant. It will study the composition, gravity field, magnetic field, and polar magnetosphere of Jupiter. It also has a nice camera, so we can look forward to gorgeous images. Here is one it took of Earth as it flew by to use the planet's gravity to speed up.

Image Credit: NASA/JPL/SwRI/MSSS

The Juno mission has a great website, with tons of information, images, and videos. Check it out at http://missionjuno.swri.edu/

























Bill Nye made some great videos to explain the Juno mission objectives that you can find at the mission website. Here is a fun overview. 
 

You can still spot Jupiter for most of June, low in the west after sunset. It will look like a very bright star in the constellation of the Gemini Twins. Jupiter will begin setting with the Sun around June 20, and then will not be visible again until August, when it will rise just before the Sun. See the sky chart below, set for Peoria around 9 PM. 

Look for super bright Jupiter just after the Sun goes down throughout June. Image Credit: Stellarium

Also in June (but not related to astronomy), monarch butterflies should be arriving in this area on their journey north! Check out these images of a monarch caterpillar we are raising at the museum. The first is from an hour or so before it transformed into a chrysalis, and the second is after the transformation! It will stay in the chrysalis stage for about a week, and then an adult monarch butterfly will emerge.

As always, to learn more about the current evening sky, visit the Dome at the Peoria Riverfront Museum. Find show times and descriptions here. Good luck finding Jupiter in June, and go plant some milkweed!