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June 2: Titan stands close to Saturn
Asteroid 3 Juno is stationary at 3 P.M. EDT, standing still against the stars of Aquila the Eagle. The large main-belt world is in far eastern Aquila and doesn’t rise until an hour before midnight. The best time to catch it is overnight and into the early-morning hours; it stands highest in the sky half an hour before sunrise, but by then, the background is far too bright to capture the 10th-magnitude dot.
Instead, try around 3 A.M. local daylight time, when Juno is 40° high in the southeast. It lies just over 7° east-southeast of 3rd-magnitude Theta (θ) Aquilae. You’ll want a telescope for the best chance of spotting it this morning — the bright Moon is nearby in Sagittarius, brushing past the star Tau (τ) Sagittarii in the handle of the Teapot asterism. So, if you have trouble finding faint Juno with binoculars or a telescope, wait a few days and come back to try again. It is moving slowly north and then west against the background stars after today, swapping its motion from prograde (eastward) to retrograde (westward) after this standstill. Because it is making this turnaround, Juno remains in roughly the same spot for several more days, giving the Moon time to wane and move away.
Sunrise: 5:33 A.M.
Sunset: 8:24 P.M.
Moonrise: 11:31 P.M.
Moonset: 7:54 A.M.
Moon Phase: Waning gibbous (88%)
*Times for sunrise, sunset, moonrise, and moonset are given in local time from 40° N 90° W. The Moon’s illumination is given at 10 P.M. local time from the same location.
