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.
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In the Sky This Month
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.
July 2: Moon and the Sickle
A curved pattern of stars looms above the crescent Moon this evening. It forms the head, mane, and heart of Leo, the lion. The handle is Regulus, the lion’s brightest star, to the left of the Moon. And Leo’s next-brightest star, Algieba, is above the Moon.
July 3: Latest Sunsets
Although the longest day in the northern hemisphere was the summer solstice, the Sun is just now setting at its latest for the year for the southernmost regions of the United States.
July 4: Far from the Sun
Earth is farthest from the Sun for the entire year today, roughly 1.5 million miles farther than average. We receive less solar energy at this point than at any other time of year, but there’s little impact on Earth’s climate.
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.