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 full Moon has an especially close companion tonight: Spica, the brightest star of Virgo. From the eastern half of the country they will appear to almost touch aa nightfall. The gap between them will be a bit wider for those in the west, but they’ll still be close.
Alkes, one of the brighter stars of the constellation Crater, the cup, which is in the southeast at nightfall, is 175 light-years away, so the light we see from the star tonight began its journey toward Earth 175 years ago.
You can gaze up and out of the Milky Way galaxy’s disk on spring evenings. The north galactic pole is in the constellation Coma Berenices, above the bright star Arcturus, which is due east at nightfall.
The faint constellation Draco, the dragon, is in the northeastern sky at nightfall, and crawls high across the north later on. One of its treasures is the Cat’s Eye Nebula, the glowing remains of a dying star.
The waxing gibbous Moon stares up at Regulus this evening. The bright star marks the heart of Leo, the lion. The gap between the Moon and star will increase as the night rolls by, with Regulus leading the Moon down the western sky later on.
Regulus, the brightest star of Leo, the lion, is below the Moon as night falls this evening. It will stand even closer to the Moon as they set, in the wee hours of the morning.
Gienah is the brightest star of Corvus, the crow. The constellation is low in the southeast as night falls, and due south around midnight. Its brightest stars form the outline of a small sail, with Gienah at the top right corner of the sail.
Mars stands close to the lower right of the Moon at nightfall. Dust on its surface gives the planet an orange tint. Pollux and Castor, the stars that represent the twins of Gemini, line up farther to the right of the Moon.
The first-quarter Moon is gliding across the constellation Gemini tonight. Gemini’s twin stars and the planet Mars form an arc above and to the upper left of the Moon at nightfall. Mars is the brightest member of the arc.
Sirius, the brightest star in the night sky, slides across the southwest this evening. The star is in the south-southwest as darkness falls and sets by around midnight. It twinkles fiercely as it drops toward the horizon.
