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 is visible very low in the northwestern evening sky during June for most of the month, and passes greatest eastern elongation from the sun June 15
● Venus shines brightly low in the western evening sky
● Mars is visible in the eastern pre-dawn sky moving from the Aries to the Taurus constellation
● Jupiter is visible in the western evening sky soon after sunset and appears close to Venus June 8, 9 and 10

● Saturn rises during early morning and is visible in the southeastern sky in the Pisces constellation

Moon Phases

● Last Quarter Moon June 8, 06:00 EDT
● New Moon June 14, 22:54 EDT

● First Quarter Moon June 21, 17:55 EDT
● Full Moon June 29, 19:57 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

Noteworthy Sky Events

● June 8-9-10: Venus close to Jupiter in western evening sky
● June 16 and 17: thin crescent moon close to Jupiter and Venus in the western evening sky

Monthly Sky Chart for mid-June, mid-evening (courtesy of www.heavens-above.com):