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.
A bright star in Cassiopeia is nearing the end of its life, so it is beginning to puff up like a giant balloon. Beta Cassiopeia is in the northwest this evening, at the bottom of a sideways letter W formed by some of the constellation’s leading lights.
Some of the brightest stars in the night sky form the Winter Circle, a jewel-studded cosmic necklace that fills much of the southern sky. Look for it as the sky gets nice and dark. The circle’s hub is bright orange Betelgeuse, in Orion the hunter.
Antares, the heart of the scorpion, stands just a whisker away from the Moon early tomorrow. The supergiant star has surrounded itself with giant clumps of dust. That makes it tough for astronomers to distinguish the star’s surface from the material around it.
Two bright orange stars pass high across the south this evening: Betelgeuse, at the shoulder of Orion the hunter; and Aldebaran, the eye of the bull, well to its right.
The dying star NGC 3242 has surrounded itself with a giant bubble of gas and dust. It’s called the Ghost of Jupiter Nebula for its resemblance to the giant planet. It climbs into view, in the southeast, by 9 p.m. Under dark skies it’s visible through binoculars.
Hydra, the water snake, is the largest and longest constellation. Its head is in the east in early evening, but its tail doesn’t clear the horizon until hours later. Only one of its stars is easily visible. You need dark skies to see any of the others.
The Moon has an especially close companion at dawn tomorrow: Spica, the brightest star of Virgo. Depending on your location, they might be separated by as little as the width of a pencil held at arm’s length. From some parts of the world, the Moon will cover the star.
One of the meekest constellations wheels across the south on February nights. Caelum, the chisel, is due south in early evening. It sits atop the horizon for those at the middle latitudes of the United States, and a little higher for those farther south.
Alpha Leporis, the brightest star in Lepus, the rabbit, is a stunner. When you combine all wavelengths of light, it is more than 30,000 times brighter than the Sun, so the star is visible to the unaided eye even though it’s more than 2,000 light-years away.
Leo, one of spring’s best-known constellations, is in good view by 9 p.m. Look for its bright heart, Regulus, well above the Moon as they climb into view. The lion’s head is to the upper left of Regulus and its body and tail to the lower left.
