The planetary action remains concentrated in the dawn and pre-dawn sky, with Venus, Jupiter, and Mars visible all month, and Mercury for part of the month. Uranus is there as well, but you need binoculars to spot it. Scorpius climbs into great evening view during June, with its severed claws—now part of Libra—preceding it.
You are here
In the Sky This Month
June 25: Moon and Venus
Look for Venus at dawn tomorrow. It’s the brilliant Morning Star, quite close to the right of the crescent Moon. The fainter planet Mercury is to the lower left, just above the horizon.
June 26: The Goose
Anser is the brightest star of Vulpecula, the fox. The star’s name means “the goose.” It comes from the constellation’s original name, the fox and goose. Anser is in the east as night falls. You need fairly dark skies to see it.
June 27: New Moon
The Moon will disappear from view tomorrow as it crosses between Earth the Sun, marking its “new” phase. It will return to view as a thin crescent not long after sunset on Thursday.
June 28: Pillan Patera
The planet Jupiter is high in the southeast at dawn and looks like a bright star. Binoculars reveal its four largest moons, which look like tiny stars near the planet. The quartet includes Io, the most volcanically active body in the solar system.
June 29: Dogging the Sun
A pair of tiny rainbow-like splashes of color sometimes flanks the rising or setting Sun. Known as sun dogs, they maintain the same distance from the Sun: roughly 22 degrees, which is twice the width of your fist held at arm’s length.
June 30: Draco
Draco, the dragon, puts in a good evening appearance during early summer. It stands high in the north, wrapping around the Little Dipper. Look for it between Cygnus, the swan, which is in the northeast, and the Big Dipper, in the northwest.
July 1: Pleiades Rising
The Pleiades is climbing into view in the dawn sky. The star cluster looks like a tiny dipper. It marks the shoulder of Taurus, the bull. It is low in the eastern sky at dawn, above Venus, the brilliant Morning Star.
First June 7, 9:48 am
Full June 14, 6:52 am
Last June 20, 10:11 pm
New June 28, 9:52 pm
Times are U.S. Central Time.
Apogee June 1, 29
Perigee June 14
The full Moon of June is known as the Flower Moon, Strawberry Moon, Rose Moon, or Honey Moon.