June sky at night — click on the image below to see a larger version

With the short nights of June upon us, even astronomers could be forgiven for looking a little closer to home for entertainment. It may be more than 200 miles above the surface of the Earth, but the International Space Station is near by any astronomical standard and provides a good starting point.

A series of passes in early June will make it once again visible to observers in the British Isles. While these opportunities are inferior to those of the past ten days, with the station skimming the horizon rather than passing overhead, if all goes well in Florida there will be the added attraction of Space Shuttle Discovery docked with the station. Discovery is due for launch on Saturday on a mission to install a new Japanese laboratory module and, more importantly, fix the ISS's broken toilet. It should dock with the station two days after launch.

To see them flying in tandem, you will need a clear southwestern horizon at 11.45pm on Saturday night or 10.54pm on Monday, when the ISS will be 20 degrees above the horizon, or a view to the southeast at 10.31pm on Sunday. (All times are given for London; use http://spaceflight1.nasa.gov/realdata/sightings to get predictions for your location and the rest of the month).

If you lack that clear horizon, instead of viewing Discovery itself you might notice the effects of its exhaust on the Earth's upper atmosphere. June is the best month for viewing noctilucent, or “night shining” clouds. When the Sun has set and is between 5 and 15 degrees below the horizon (corresponding in mid June to after 2200 and before 0200), it can still illuminate clouds in the Earth's upper atmosphere, producing an eerily glowing display, often with a distinct silver colour.

As well as being beautiful, noctilucent clouds are of great interest to scientists. They seem to be a modern phenomenon, with the first major displays being reported after the 1883 explosion of the Krakatoa volcano. Despite this connection, we now know the clouds are made of water ice rather than volcanic dust, and some believe that the increasing number of clouds is a sign of climate change.

The planets are poorly placed this month. Mercury is at inferior conjunction on June 7 and Venus at superior conjunction two days later. Mars and Saturn are close together, but no more than 30 degrees above the horizon at sunset. Mars is moving from Cancer into Leo, finishing June just north of the bright star Regulus. More than 180 million miles from Earth, it appears both small and faint at magnitude 1.5 but its surface is now home to three working spacecraft after the successful landing of Phoenix (www.nasa.gov/phoenix). Saturn is a few degrees away and with the next ring-plane crossing due in 2009 this is the last chance for a few years to see the rings in a small telescope.

Jupiter is stunning for observers at a more southerly latitude than the UK. At magnitude -2.5 and at opposition (on the opposite side of the Earth to the Sun and thus visible all night long) only its position in the southerly constellation of Sagittarius ruins the view for the rest of us. The full Moon passes by on the 20th and 21st, making an excellent target for photographers with interesting foregrounds. Binoculars should reveal the nightly dance of the four large Galilean moons, while telescopic observers will enjoy trying to find Jupiter's third red spot, which has appeared in the last month.

The new spot is at roughly the same latitude as the famous Great Red Spot, which is also accompanied by a feature called oval BA. This was formed by the merger of two smaller storms in March 2000, but turned red during 2005 and has been slowly growing ever since. Although the Great Red Spot itself has been stable since it was first observed more than 300 years ago, this region of Jupiter is evolving and worth keeping an eye on.

The time for stargazing in June is short with the solstice occurring just before midnight on the 20th, but the long summer nights are the best time to look toward the centre of the Milky Way. If you have a horizon clear enough to see Jupiter, use it as your guide by looking to the right for the distinctive teapot shape of Sagittarius.

The area of sky marked by Sagittarius and neighbouring Scorpius is a rich hunting ground with binoculars, peppered with clusters and nebulae that lie between the solar system and the galaxy's heart. Above them lies the rather anonymous 13th constellation of the zodiac, Ophiuchus, the serpent bearer, with his serpent split between Serpens Cauda on one side and Serpens Caput on the other.

Higher up is the other celestial strongman, Hercules, and between them these two constellations contain the finest globular clusters in the Northern sky. Hercules's pair, M92 and M13 are better known, but M12 and M10 in Ophichus are also worth seeking out.