June Night Skies
A brief overview of what to see in the sky with the unaided eye during June evenings:
Stars and Constellations
● Some prominent stars to notice include the 3 bright stars of the “Summer Triangle” climbing in the eastern sky during June evenings. The bright blue star Vega is the highest (in the eastern sky), and below Vega are Deneb to the north (lower left of Vega when looking eastward toward Vega) and Altair to the south
● Some prominent constellations to notice are the constellations of the Summer Triangle stars:
● Lyra is a small constellation that includes Vega
● Cygnus is a cross-shaped constellation (also known as the Northern Cross) that includes Deneb
● Aquila is a constellation that includes Altair
● The summer Milky Way extends north-to-south through Cygnus and Aquila
Planets
● Mercury becomes visible very low in the northwestern evening sky during June for a couple of weeks, from about a week before until a week after mid-June
● Venus shines brightly low in the eastern pre-dawn sky
● Mars is visible in the western evening sky in the Leo constellation
● Jupiter is visible low in the evening sky soon after sunset during the first week of June and then becomes too close to the sun, and reaches conjunction with the sun June 24
● Saturn rises during early morning and is visible in the southeastern sky in the Pisces constellation
Moon Phases
● First Quarter Moon June 2, 23:41 EDT
● Full Moon June 11, 03:44 EDT
● Last Quarter Moon June 18, 15:19 EDT
● New Moon June 25, 06:32 EDT
Noteworthy Sky Events
● June 17: bright star Regulus and Mars appear very close together in the evening sky in the Leo constellation
● June 20: summer solstice, 22:42 EDT
Sky Resources Online
Some website resources for sky charts, weekly sky events, and more information:
● astrogeo.ca/skylights
● www.heavens-above.com
● In-the-sky.org
● www.skyandtelescope.org
● www.skymaps.com
Star Chart for mid-June, mid-evening (courtesy of www.heavens-above.com):
