Three bright planets stairstep up the evening sky for most of the month. Venus, the Evening Star, is the brightest, followed by Jupiter, then Mercury (see Featured Event). Scorpius arcs low across the south during the night, while the Summer Triangle—the bright stars Vega, Deneb, and Altair—is in the east at nightfall and soars high overhead in the wee hours. The Big Dipper is high in the north at nightfall early in the month, but a little lower in the northwest by June’s end.
The full Moon of June is known as the Flower Moon, Strawberry Moon, Rose Moon, or Honey Moon.
Perigee June 14
Apogee June 28
Moon phases are Central Time.
The planet Venus is switching sides today. It is crossing behind the Sun as seen from Earth, so it’s moving from the morning sky to the evening sky. Depending on your location, it could emerge as the Evening Star as early as mid- to late February.
The Moon is about three days past full tonight, so the Sun lights up about 90 percent of the lunar hemisphere that faces our way. That makes the Moon nice and bright. But it’s not as bright as you might expect: It is only about half as bright as the full Moon.
Fornax, the furnace, is low in the south-southeast at nightfall. The constellation has only one moderately bright star, Alpha Fornacis. Binoculars show that it’s really two stars. One is bigger and heavier than the Sun, while the other is smaller than the Sun.
The Moon has some prominent companions tonight. It’s flanked by the brilliant planet Jupiter and the star Pollux, the brighter “twin” of Gemini. Castor, the other twin, is to the upper left of the Moon.
The Moon is full tonight. It’s known as the Frost Moon, Moon After Yule, or Wolf Moon. Wolves don’t actually howl at the Moon. They may howl more during the full Moon, but that’s because they are nocturnal, so they are more active when there’s more moonlight.
The Moon will skim just a whisker away from the star Elnath tonight. It is the second-brightest star of Taurus, and marks the tip of one of the bull’s horns. Despite its brightness, you might want to use binoculars to see it through the lunar glare.
The constellation Cancer rises in the east by around 9 p.m. and climbs high across the sky later on. Its stars aren’t all that prominent, although binoculars reveal a sparkly group of stars known as the Beehive Cluster.
Canopus, the second-brightest star in the night sky, is visible for a few hours, before and after midnight, from the southern latitudes of the United States. It is below Sirius, the brightest star, and not far above the horizon.
Sirius, the Dog Star, climbs into good view, in the east-southeast, by 8:30 or 9 p.m. It is the brightest star in the entire night sky. It’s called the Dog Star because it’s the leading light of Canis Major, the big dog.
Winter is just starting, but you can already find a hint of spring in the pre-dawn sky. The stars and constellations that are in view a couple of hours before sunrise will be in view a couple of hours after sunset in late April.
