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 Christmas Tree cluster climbs into view in the east in early evening. Under dark skies it’s just visible as a faint smudge of light. A telescope reveals a few of its stars and the faint glow of gas clouds. Images reveal the full beauty of the cosmic Christmas tree.
NGC 1300 decorates December’s night sky. It is too faint to see with the eye, but images reveal a beautiful galaxy. A bar of stars spans its middle, with stars spiraling away from the bar’s ends. NGC 1300 is low in the southeast at nightfall, in Eridanus, the river.
Spica, the brightest star of the constellation Virgo, stands close to the lower left of the Moon as they climb into good view in the wee hours of tomorrow. They are a bit closer together at dawn.
Like the Sun, Rho Cassiopeia is a G2 star, so both are yellow. But that’s the only thing they have in common. Rho Cass is many times bigger, heavier, and brighter than the Sun. It’s high in the north at dusk, to the upper left of the “M” or “W” outline of Cassiopeia.
Today is the winter solstice, which is the shortest day of the year. But the weather doesn’t warm up right after the solstice because there’s still more darkness than daylight, the Sun stays low in the sky, and the oceans and land take more time to warm.
Winter will spring on the northern hemisphere in the wee hours of tomorrow morning, at the moment of the winter solstice. That makes today and tomorrow the shortest days of the year, while the nights are the longest of the year.
The Moon rises in late evening, with Regulus, the brightest star of the constellation Leo, close by. They stay close together as they climb high across the sky later on.
Mars is putting in a great appearance this month. It looks like a bright orange star, and it climbs into good view by about 8:30 or 9 p.m. Tonight, the Moon rises below it about 45 minutes later. They climb high across the sky and are high in the west at dawn.
Mars and the Moon appear quite close together tonight. As they climb into view, in early evening, bright orange Mars is just below the Moon. The Moon will move closer to Mars during the night, and they will appear to almost touch in the wee hours of the morning.
Look for the twin stars of Gemini near the Moon not long after nightfall. Castor is to the left of the Moon, with brighter Pollux to the Moon’s lower left. Bright orange Mars rises well below them.
