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.
If you live at high northern latitudes, you may see some eerie clouds at this time of year. They show up in deep twilight, and shine electric blue. Known as noctilucent clouds, they are formed by particles of meteor dust high in the atmosphere.
The supermassive black hole at the center of our galaxy is in Sagittarius. The constellation is in the south on summer evenings, and forms the outline of a teapot. The black hole is immersed in the “steam” above the spout, about 27,000 light-years away.
Sagittarius marks the center of the Milky Way Galaxy, so it is packed with stars, star clouds, and star clusters. It scoots low across the south and looks like the outline of a teapot. Many of its star clouds and clusters are visible through binoculars.
Mars stands close to the right of the crescent Moon as darkness falls this evening. The planet looks like a fairly bright star.
Delphinus, the dolphin, is small and faint. But five of its stars form an outline that really does resemble a dolphin, making it easy to find. It’s a third of the way up the eastern sky at nightfall, with the dolphin’s tail on the right and its snout on the left.
Zeta Tauri, the star at the tip of one of the horns of Taurus, the bull, will stand just a whisker from Venus, the brilliant Morning Star, early tomorrow. Zeta Tauri is actually two stars. They are separated by a bit more than the distance from Earth to the Sun.
Pluto, everyone’s favorite dwarf planet, lines up opposite the Sun this week. It rises around sunset and remains in view all night, and shines brightest for the whole year. Even so, it is so faint that you need a telescope to spot it.
The Moon is new today, so it is lost from sight as it crosses between Earth and the Sun. It will return to view in a couple of nights as a thin crescent low in the western sky shortly after sunset.
The glowing band of the Milky Way arches high across the sky on summer nights. At nightfall, it stretches from almost due north, high across the east, to almost due south. It stands directly overhead by midnight. You must avoid city lights to see it.
Jupiter, the largest planet in the solar system, stands close to the crescent Moon in tomorrow’s dawn twilight. It looks like a bright star, but it’s so low in the sky that you will need a clear horizon to spot it.
