This month you may be able to see an interloper from the outer solar system if you can find a dark spot away from suburbia.

Comets have always exercised our imagination, inspiring everything from fear as harbingers of doom to awe as spectacular, transient additions to our sky.

Most of the time however, comets are faint fuzzy dots only visible in good telescopes. Indeed, to astronomers a "bright" comet is one that is hundreds of times dimmer than what we can see with the unaided eye.

Comet C/2013 X1 PanSTARRS is hardly a name to trip off people's lips, and at a predicted magnitude of six it will look like a fuzzy green dot to the unaided eye or through binoculars — or a tiny ball of cotton wool if you have a telescope.

In the past few years Australia has been fortunate to see several comets that just edged into unaided eye territory. However, most of these were either visible in the early morning, too close to the Moon or too close to twilight for good viewing.

Comet C/2013 X1 PanSTARRS is already visible in good binoculars, and by mid-June, when it comes closest to Earth, it should be visible to the unaided eye under dark sky conditions.

The best time to see it will be about midnight or the early morning from the beginning to mid-June when there will be little moonlight to wash it out.

Location of comet C/2013 X1 PanSTARRS at midnight looking east on the 1st (closest to the horizon), 5th, 15th, and 20th (near the star Peacock) ( Stellarium/Ian Musgrave )

Finding the comet will be a bit of a challenge, but there are good signposts to it.

In the first week of June the comet will be about two binocular widths from the bright star Fomalhaut, then the next week it will be two binocular widths from the bright star Al Na'ir (alpha Grus), then the week after that it will be two binocular widths from the bright star Peacock (alpha Pavonis). If you sweep your binoculars northwards from these stars, the comet will be the only fuzzy ball of light in that area.

Constellation of the month: Sagittarius

You can now see Sagittarius well above the eastern horizon by the time the sky is fully dark.

In Greek mythology, Sagittarius was associated with wise centaur Chiron, depicted as an archer. Chiron was accidentally poisoned by Hercules, and after volunteering to take over Prometheus's place of torment, he was set in the sky, forever aiming his bow at the scorpion.

To the Torres Straight Islanders, Sagittarius was the anchor of the canoe that we know as Scorpius.

Many people in Australia call this wonderful constellation the teapot.

But the heart of the constellation really does look like a teapot. It is readily visible below the distinctive back to front question mark that is Scorpius. Directly below the tail of Scorpius is the spout, then the teapot itself is a rectangle, another two brightish stars below that define the handle, and single brightish star to the north makes a distinctive lid.

Sagittarius looking east at 10 pm on June 1. The centre of the galaxy is indicated with a yellow star. The locations of Mars and Saturn are also shown. ( Stellarium/Ian Musgrave )

Just above the spout of the teapot, at the boundary between the bright star clouds of the Milky Way and the dark dust lane, is the heart of our galaxy. At the centre of the galaxy lurks the massive black hole Sagittarius A*, which can only be seen by astronomers using powerful equipment such as the Hubble Space Telescope.

Sweeping Sagittarius with binoculars reveals a wealth of clusters and nebula. Some of the most impressive are clustered near the lid of the teapot.

Just near the bright star which makes the lid (lambda Sagittarii) is the beautiful globular cluster M22, bright enough to see as a dim, fuzzy star with the unaided eye.

A little further north from the lid star is the beautiful lagoon nebula, which appears as a gorgeous spray of stars embedded in a pearly cloud when seen through a small telescope. Not as bright as Orion's nebula, it is still beautiful object in binoculars, and can even be seen as a tiny fuzzy halo around the surrounding stars when out in the bush.

The Lagoon Nebula, seen through the European Space Agency's Very Large Telescope, is in the constellation of Sagittarius ( ESO/VPHAS+ team )

Saturn at its brightest — June 3

In June, three bright planets grace the evening sky: Mars, Saturn and Jupiter.

Mars and Saturn are both close to the constellation of Scorpius the scorpion, forming a triangle with the red star Antares.

Saturn will be visible all night long this month, and will be brightest on June 3 when it is at opposition. Unlike Mars, Saturn does not have dramatic changes in brightness or size when viewed through a telescope. While not as bright as Mars or Jupiter, it is obvious as the second brightest object above the eastern horizon in the evening after Mars.

You will be able to see its rings even in small telescopes, so now is the perfect time to dust off any old telescopes lying around, visit a local planetarium or go to an astronomical society open night.

Jupiter and Mercury

Jupiter is visible most of the evening as the brightest object above the western horizon at the beginning of the month, by the end of the month it will be seen low above the western horizon setting shortly before midnight.

Mercury is prominent in the morning sky, and is the brightest object above the eastern horizon before dawn until around the June 25. On the June 18 and 19 Mercury forms a second eye of the constellation Taurus (the bull) with the red star Aldebaran.

The Moon visits all of the visible planets over the month and its location can help you identify the planets.