Orbital diagrams for the inner planets December 2007 to March 2008, inner planets April to July 2008, July to November 2008 and the outer planets for 2008.
| Date (NZDT) | Diary of Solar System Events in June 2008 for New Zealand |
| June 3 | Moon at perigee, its closest to the Earth for the Lunar month, 357254 km. |
| June 4 | New Moon at 7:23 am NZST (Jun 3, 19:23 UT). |
| June 8 | Mercury at inferior conjunction. |
| June 8 | 25% lit Moon 2° from Mars, mag. 1.5. Earlier an occultation of Mars in afternoon visible from NZ. |
| June 9 | Venus, at superior conjunction behind Sun. |
| June 9 | 36% lit Moon 5° forms a small triangle with Saturn magnitude 0.6 and the star Regulus magnitude 1.4, evening sky. |
| June 11 | Moon at first quarter 3:04 am NZST (Jun 10, 15:04 UT). |
| June 13 | 75% lit Moon 2° from star Spica, magnitude 1.1, evening sky. |
| June 17 | Moon at apogee, its greatest distance from the Earth for the Lunar month, 406225 km. |
| June 17 | 98% lit Moon less than 1° from the star Antares, magnitude 1.1, early evening sky.
Occultation visible southern South America and parts of southern Pacific Ocean. |
| June 19 | Full Moon at 5:30 am NZST (Jun 18, 17:30 UT). |
| June 20 | Mercury stationary. |
| June 20/21 | 97% lit Moon 2° from Jupiter, in late evening sky and morning sky. |
| June 21 | Pluto at opposition. |
| June 21 | Southern winter solstice at midday NZST (summer solstice in northern hemisphere). |
| June 23 | 79% lit Moon 2.5° from Neptune,
magnitude 7.9, late evening sky.
Occultation of Neptune visible from most of North America. |
| June 25/26 | 59% lit Moon 4 to 5° from Uranus, magnitude 5.8, late evening and morning sky. |
| June 27 | Moon at last quarter 12:10 am NZST (Jun 26, 12:10 UT). |
| June 27 | Uranus stationary. |
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MERCURY is at inferior conjunction between the Sun and Earth on June 8 when it moves out of the evening sky and into the morning sky.
At first, following conjunction the planet will rise too close to sunrise to observe. By the end of June it should be possible to locate Mercury in the morning twilight. On the morning of June 30, the planet will be a low 7.5° above the horizon to the northeast some 50 minutes before sunrise. Mercury, at magnitude 0.7, will then be 7.5° below and to the right of the 1st magnitude star, Aldebaran.
VENUS will not be observable during June. It is at superior conjunction with the Sun on June 9. In some ways this is the most interesting event of the month - and it is completely unobservable!
The conjunction marks the mid point in time between the two transits of Venus 8 June 2004 and 6 June 2012. At transit the planet crosses the disk of the Sun as seen from Earth and is at inferior conjunction. Not surprisingly, Venus will be occulted by the Sun at this year's superior conjunction. The occultation lasts for about 45 hours from June 8 at 5hr UT to June 10 at 2hr UT, much longer than the transits, 6 hr 12 min in 2004 and 6 hr 40m in 2012.
Naturally no attempt should be made to observe this event.
Following conjunction Venus will move into the evening sky for the rest of the year. By the end of June it will set just over 20 minutes after the Sun, so still to close to observe.
MARS will be an early evening object during June, setting about 9.45 pm at the beginning of June and nearly half an hour earlier by the end of the month. The planet will be in the constellation Cancer up to June 10, after which it moves into Leo. On the last evening of June Mars will be 1° from the 1.4 magnitude star Regulus and a little over 5° from Saturn. Mars, at magnitude 1.6, will be slightly fainter than the star and directly below it (see diagram).
The crescent Moon, 25% lit, will be some 2° from Mars on the evening of June 8. Earlier in the afternoon, the Moon will occult Mars for viewers in New Zealand. The occultation is visible from a relatively small part of the World, with New Zealand being the only significant land mass over which it occurs. With a magnitude of 1.5 Mars is likely to be visible in a fairly small telescope. Mars will disappear behind the Moon between about 12:20pm in the north and 12:30 pm in the south of New Zealand. The Moon will be low in the sky, ranging from just over 10° in the North Island, to as low as 3° at Invercargill, making the event just about unobservable there.
Mars will emerge from the lit side of the Moon nearly 70 minutes later, with the Moon about 10° higher in the sky than at the time of disappearance.
JUPITER will rise a little before 8pm at the beginning of June and before 6pm at the end of the month. Thus it will be readily visible from mid evening on throughout June, fairly low to the east at first.
The planet remains in Sagittarius a few degrees from the "Teapot's Handle".
On the 20th of June, the Moon, just past full, will be will be 2° from Jupiter. The two will be closest a little after midnight.
SATURN, in Leo, will slowly move away from the star Regulus which, at magnitude 1.4, is the brightest star in the constellation. The distance between the two will increase by about 2° during the month.
Saturn and Regulus will be joined on the evening of June 9 by the 36% lit Moon when the three will form a small triangle with the Moon above the planet and star (see diagram).
By the end of June, Saturn will be setting before 10 pm, so will be best placed for viewing in the early evening. By then Mars will have moved to within a few degrees of Saturn. Saturn will be nearly a magnitude brighter and to the upper right of Mars.