As we approach the longest days of the year, we also experience the shortest nights.

I highly recommend that at least once a year during the summer you spend an entire night under the stars and take in the great show. You’ll lose sleep. but it’s a wonderful experience.

If you have at least a small telescope and can be under the dark skies of the countryside all the better. Don’t forget the bug spray, although most of the time mosquitoes don’t feast on you quite as much after about an hour past sunset.

A goal that’s possible to accomplish for the next week or so is to see four planets that are visible to the naked eye. Our Earth is in the perfect spot relative to Jupiter, Mars, Saturn, and Venus to make this happen. This is a planet lover’s paradise.

The first planet to check out as soon as it gets dark enough, even before the end of evening twilight, is Jupiter, the largest planet in our solar system.

On these early June evenings it’s shining big and bright in Butler’s low western sky. It’s so big that if it were hollow you could fit more than a thousand Earths inside it.

You don’t want to wait long in the evening to look for Jupiter because it sets below the western horizon not all that long after the end of evening twilight.

Even though it’s pulling farther away from Earth right now, at a distance of nearly 565 million miles, it’s still the brightest starlike object in the evening sky.

Even with a telescope or a good pair of binoculars you can resolve the disk of the great planet with up to four of its larger moons; Io, Europa, Ganymede, and Callisto, orbiting Jupiter in periods of two to 17 days. Your telescope view of Jupiter will be a little fuzzy, though, as we have to peer through more of Earth’s atmosphere closer to the western horizon.

Next, you’ll be seeing red in our planet parade. Mars, the second-brightest starlike object in the evening and the closest planet to Earth, is dominating the low southern sky at a distance of just 78 million miles away. With the naked eye you can easily detect its orange-red hue, the result of oxidation of the surface.

As bright as Mars is, it’s tough to see surface features. You may see some dark patches here and there but that’s about it.

There are several reasons for this. For one thing Mars is a much smaller than the Earth, about 4,200 miles, a little more than half of Earth’s diameter.

Secondly Mars, even at its highest point in the evening sky right now, isn’t all that far above the horizon so once again Earth’s thicker atmosphere near the horizon gets in the way.

Third, Mars rotates on its axis a little slower than the Earth so we don’t always see the same side of the red planet. One side definitely has more visible surface features than the other so it depends on what side of Mars is facing us on a given night.

One thing we can see no matter what is the northern polar cap that appears as a white fringe on the lower side of the planet, assuming your telescope gives you a reverse upside down image as most do.

Next in the planet parade is the prettiest one, Saturn, with its gorgeous ring system very visible right now.

Saturn reached its closest point to Earth last month but is still relatively close at 839 million miles. That’s a heck of a long ways away, but Saturn is also humongous with a ring system of highly reflective ice and rock that stretches more than 150,000 miles in diameter.

That’s more than halfway between the Earth and our moon. As wide as the ring system is, the entire thing is only 50 miles thick.

Look through your telescope for as long as you can. The longer one looks at Saturn, the better. Sit on a stool or chair and make yourself comfortable.

The problem with observing Saturn this summer is that the ringed wonder isn’t rising very high in the sky and Earth’s atmosphere and high winds aloft can interfere with a clear view.

There are “quiet moments” in the atmosphere, however, where you can really get clearer looks at Saturn. By the way, the full, waxing, gibbous moon will be hanging around Saturn Monday and Tuesday nights.

Watching Saturn for much of the rest of the night might be a good idea because you’ll be waiting a while for the next planet to rise.

You will also want to take time to enjoy the summer constellations like Scorpius, Sagittarius, Cygnus, Lyra and the wonderful Milky Way band.

Venus doesn’t rise above the eastern horizon until after morning twilight begins after 4 a.m. When it is above the horizon you’ll know it because it’s by far the brightest of all the planets and also by far the brightest starlike object of the entire night.

The main reason Venus is so brilliant is that it has a poisonous, opaque and very reflective atmosphere that bounces sunlight off it like a mirror.

Don’t bother looking at Venus with your scope because I know you’ll be totally underwhelmed unless you like looking at white blotches.

That’s it. Your all-nighter is complete. Pull down the shades, close the curtains, take the phone off the hook and get your beauty sleep after taking in the tremendous beauty and experience of the summer night sky.

Mike Lynch is an amateur astronomer and professional broadcast meteorologist for WCCO Radio in Minneapolis/St. Paul and is author of the book, “Stars, a Month by Month Tour of the Constellations” published by Adventure Publications and available at bookstores and at www.adventurepublications.net.