What's overhead in June 2010 in the Northern hemisphere?

Note: The constellation names given are for the planets' astronomical positions overhead. Their zodiacal, astrological positions in the tropical zodiac used by most Western (as opposed to Vedic) astrologers run about 23 degrees later in the zodiac than their astronomical positions. So if you have a current issue of Astronomy magazine, or another viewfinder for the June sky, a quick-and-dirty rule of thumb is to look for the planet in the sky about one sign/constellation before the sign/constellation that planet is transiting through in your birth chart/in the zodiac.

In the evening:
You can see Venus in the west as the evening star, setting after the Sun. It will be the brightest object in the sky, more so at the end of June than at the beginning because its orbit is bringing it closer to the Earth. On about June 19-20 it will be close to (north of) the star cluster The Beehive, and you should be able to get a good view of both of them in your binoculars.

Reddish Mars will be near the blueish star Regulus in Leo for about the first half of June, and their color differences will show up best through binoculars on about June 6th. Mars will set before midnight by late June, and be about 13 degrees from Regulus by then. Saturn will be up in the southwest sky at sunset, and in the west of Virgo. Its rings are tilted nearly edge-on to us just now, but if you have a telescope, that should give you a better look at some of Saturn's moons; Titan and Rhea conjunct one another about June 9-10.

Before dawn:
In June, you can see Mercury in the east about half an hour before sunrise. Mercury gets brighter and is especially easy to see about June 10th, when it rises about 50 minutes after and 8 degrees below the waning crescent Moon.

Jupiter and Uranus are close together about 15 degrees above the southeastern horizon at about 3:00 a.m., although you may need a good telescope to see green-blue Uranus very well; in the eyepiece it appears to be about 1/10th the size of Jupiter. Jupiter's visibility improves through the month, and you should be able to see its moons fairly easily.

Confused? Check out www.astronomy.com, or get the current issue from the newsstand. Or better yet, subscribe! It's a fascinating and visually beautiful magazine.