The night sky tonight and on any clear night offers an ever-changing display of fascinating objects you can see, from stars and constellations to bright planets, the moon, and sometimes special events like meteor showers.
Observing the night sky can be done with no special equipment, although a sky map can be very useful, and a good telescope or binoculars will enhance some experiences and bring some otherwise invisible objects into view.
You can also use astronomy accessories to make your observing easier, and use our Satellite Tracker page powered by N2YO.com to find out when and how to see the International Space Station and other satellites. We also have a helpful guide on how you can see and track a Starlink satellite train.
You can also capture the night sky by using any of the best cameras for astrophotography, along with a selection of the best lenses for astrophotography.
Read on to find out what’s up in the night sky tonight (planets visible now, moon phases, observing highlights this month) plus other resources (skywatching terms, night sky observing tips and further reading)
Editor’s note: If you have an amazing skywatching photo and would like to share it with Space.com’s readers, send your photo(s), comments, and your name and location to spacephotos@space.com.
Calendar of observing highlights
Monday, June 1 — The moon’s terminator and Ocean of Storms
The moon (the remains of May’s Blue Moon) is no longer full, but it still shines brightly at roughly 97% illumination. While the waning, gibbous moon looks like a solid disk to the naked eye, a telescope will reveal a sliver of shadow (called the sunset terminator) creeping onto the eastern limb (the right side of the moon from the perspective of a naked-eye observer located in the Northern Hemisphere). That tiny shadow is still enough to transform “flat” features into 3D landscapes. Since the terminator is just starting its journey, it will be grazing the far eastern edge of Mare Crisium (the Sea of Crises). Instead of a flat, gray “sea,” observers will see the eastern edge of the mare floor falling into shadow, punctuated by long, jagged, knife-like shadows cast by the surrounding mountain peaks.
In binoculars, observers can easily see the darkening of the basin’s rim. Advanced observers should look for the tiny craters Yerkes and Picard on the mare floor; their low rims will cast disproportionately long shadows westward.
Tuesday, June 2 — Mercury meets the “Sky-Rocket” Cluster (M35)
Mercury will skate past the brilliant M35 cluster in the low west-northwestern sky right after sunset. The window of opportunity is very narrow before the pair sinks below the western horizon.
Through a pair of standard 10×50 binoculars, Mercury will shine like a bright, pinkish-gold star. In the same field of view, M35 will appear as a stunning, granular “fuzzy patch” right beside the small planet.
Both celestial objects can also be captured in a single eyepiece frame in a wide-field refractor or a short-focal-length telescope. The contrast can be striking with the sharp, solid disk of a solar system planet accompanied by the glittering stars of the open cluster.
You do not need high magnifications to enjoy this spectacle (high magnification will spread out the available light from the cluster, erasing it from the twilight sky). Use lowest-power, widest-field eyepieces (for example, a 25 mm or 32 mm Plössl) to keep the sky background as dark as possible.
Wednesday, June 3 — The Dragon’s Eyes (Nu Draconis)
The moon is still fairly bright, which makes it hard to observe many interesting sky features tonight. But the moon rises late, around 11:27 p.m., which gives you some time to enjoy the night sky. Also, the Nu Draconis double star (affectionately known as “The Dragon’s Eyes,” or Kuma) is somewhat impervious to moonlight. Double stars are tight, concentrated points of light. Their brightness doesn’t get “smeared out” by the glowing background of sky, the way a nebula or galaxy does.
Nu Draconis is a striking double star at the northern tip of the head of the Dragon (the constellation Draco). It is best observed late in the evening when Draco is nearly overhead (Draco being a circumpolar constellation for most mid-to-high northern latitudes, Nu Draconis never sets and is therefore an all-night event).
Nu Draconis is considered one of the most enjoyable binocular double stars in the northern hemisphere. By using 10×50 binoculars and steadying your elbows on a stable surface, you can easily split the star into a pair of identical twin headlights. Both stars shine at an almost identical magnitude (4.86-4.90) and glow with a clean, icy-white sapphire hue.
Because Nu Draconis is so wide (62 arcseconds), looking at it with high magnification can actually ruin the effect by pushing the twin stars too far apart in the eyepiece. Stick to your lowest-power eyepieces to keep both “eyes” framed closely together against the dark backdrop.
Amateurs using more advanced equipment can then slew their telescopes to Mu Draconis (Arrakis), also located in Draco’s head. While Nu Draconis is a wide binary, Mu Draconis is a tight, matching pair separated by a mere 2.2 arcseconds. Splitting Mu while fighting the scatter of an 87% illuminated moon is a fantastic test of a telescope’s resolving power and the stability of the night air.
Thursday, June 4 — Multiple stars Mizar and Alcor in Ursa Major
With the moon still bright, this is another good evening to hunt down a famous double star. Long thought to be an optical pair (stars that appear to be very close together, but that are not bound by gravity), Mizar and Alcor can actually be resolved with the naked eye by observers with good visual acuity.
The duo is best viewed as soon as twilight fades, when the Big Dipper rides high across the northern sky. It’s also easy to locate; it’s the middle star in the handle of the Big Dipper (the asterism made up of some of the stars in the constellation Ursa Major).
Before putting your eye to the eyepiece, challenge your naked-eye vision by trying to resolve the pair using nothing but your naked eye. Can you separate the brighter star, Mizar, from its tiny companion, Alcor? Since antiquity, this has been a natural eyesight test. If the moonlight makes it tricky, a pair of 10×50 binoculars will easily split them into a brilliant, icy-white pair.
Aim a telescope at Mizar and crank the magnification up past 100x. Mizar splits into a stunning, ultra-sharp binary pair (Mizar A and Mizar B), separated by just 14 arcseconds.
If you look closely at the dark gap between Mizar and Alcor, you will spy a faint, 8th-magnitude background star hiding there. It is named Sidus Ludoviciana (Ludwig’s Star). In 1722, an astronomer famously mistook it for a newly discovered planet. Finding this “phantom planet” while fighting the bright June 4 moon is a badge of honor.
Because the moonlit sky background lacks deep contrast, high magnification is your friend tonight. Push your telescope to 120x or higher. This narrows your field of view, which darkens the scattered moonlight background and helps faint points of light like Sidus Ludoviciana snap into view.
Friday, June 5 — The Coathanger Asterism (Collinder 399)
While the moon is still bright, you can hunt for the Coathanger Asterism, also known as Collinder 399 or Cr 399. It is a bright, high-contrast group of stars easily spotted in 10×50 binoculars. As its popular name implies, it looks exactly like an upside-down hanger.
The asterism can be found low over the east-northeastern horizon in Vulpecula after sunset as it rises into evening prominence to become an interesting summer target.
If the stars of the asterism look “soft,” tap the side of your binoculars or telescope lightly; the vibration often helps the eye register the pinpoint nature of the stars.
Saturday, June 6 — Daytime Arietids
Meteor showers occur during the day too and the Arietids can put on quite a show this time of year.
There is a very narrow window for viewing the Arietids about 45 to 60 minutes before sunrise. Because the sun washes out most of these meteors, the approach must be different from that of regular meteor showers if you are to catch them. Do not look for the Arietids around midnight. Look to the eastern horizon before sunrise if you are to catch any. Best viewing occurs right as the earliest hint of dawn touches the night sky.
The Arietids’ radiant is near the star 41 Arietis (Bharani) in the constellation Aries. Since the radiant is hugging the eastern horizon at that time, the meteors won’t “fall down from above.” They will seem to shoot straight up from the horizon, which is quite a sight to see. They can also be seen skimming horizontally across the top of the atmosphere.
Since they restrict the field of view too much to enjoy this spectacle fully, you can put away your binoculars and telescopes for this one (and, seriously, with the sun not being far behind, lurking just below the horizon, it’s best not to use binoculars and telescopes in view of the danger of inadvertently pointing them at the sun, which can permanently injure your eyes). The best way to observe any meteor shower is with the naked eye. Make yourself comfortable and enjoy.
For the most adventurous amateur who wants to push the boundaries of visual observation, the Arietids are also an interesting target for basic radio astronomy that requires very little equipment to enjoy.
Instead of looking for the Arietids with your eyes, you can “listen” to them with an old antenna and a standard FM radio receiver. When a meteor slams into the upper atmosphere, it vaporizes and leaves behind a column of ionized gas that acts like a temporary mirror for radio signals. Simply tune the FM radio receiver to a distant frequency that normally only delivers static. During the day on June 6, leave the radio on. When an Arietid streaks across the daytime sky, the ionized trail will bounce distant signals right into the antenna, resulting in an eerie short burst of music or voice breaking through the static.
Sunday, June 7 — Jupiter and Venus drag race
There is a fascinating orbital “drag race” happening in the west-northwest twilight tonight.
Venus and Jupiter are drawing incredibly close, sitting just under 3° apart (about six full moon widths). They are easily close enough to dominate the twilight side-by-side. Venus is the speedster right now, rapidly climbing up and away from the sun’s glare into the evening sky. Jupiter, on the other hand, is slowly sinking down toward the sun. Because Venus hasn’t quite overtaken it yet. Jupiter is still slightly higher and to the upper-left of Venus on June 7. Venus is pushing up from the lower right.
Venus is blazing at a magnificent magnitude -4.0, making it the undisputed “Evening Star.” Jupiter sits just a step away, shining like a brilliant cream-white diamond at magnitude -1.9. The two make a magnificent pre-conjunction display, a preview of the main event on June 9, and it creates a spectacular twilight pairing to watch as the two planets get closer over the next two nights.
The pairing is best viewed 45 to 90 minutes after sunset. They will remain visible for roughly 2.5 hours after the sun goes down before dipping below the horizon.
You won’t need to hunt for this. As twilight deepens, these two intense beacons will pierce the blue sky before any other stars appear. Because their separation is so tight, any standard pair of binoculars (like 10×50) will comfortably frame both planets in the same field of view. It is a breathtaking framing that looks intensely three-dimensional.
Pointing a small telescope or wide-field refractor at the pair is a planetary contrast spectacle. Venus will show a small, dazzlingly bright, gibbous disk (about 80% illuminated) with zero surface detail. Right next to it, Jupiter will present a much larger, softer disk. Even a small budget scope will reveal Jupiter’s four largest Galilean moons (Io, Europa, Ganymede, and Callisto) flanking the giant planet like bright points of light.
Because both planets are sitting relatively low over the horizon (around 15° to 20° high, depending on your latitude when twilight ends), you are looking through a good amount of thick, turbulent air. If you wait until the sky is pitch black, the planets will be too low and will “wobble” wildly in your eyepiece. The sweet spot occurs during late civil twilight (about 45 minutes after sunset). The brighter sky background works to your advantage here: it dims the overwhelming glare of Venus, allowing your eye to resolve its clean edge, and sharpens the contrast of Jupiter’s cloud belts before the atmosphere begins to distort the image.
An interesting project for observers interested in astrophotography with their smartphones is to take a quick photo from the exact same spot on June 7, June 8, and June 9. Sticking the photos together creates a perfect flip-book effect showing Venus actively rushing up to meet, and then pass, the King of Planets.
Monday, June 8 — The Great Hercules Cluster
The moon’s waning makes the Great Hercules Cluster (M13) a prime target this evening. It is called the King of Globulars for several reasons: It is easily visible in binoculars and offers a spectacular sight even in amateur telescopes. Under a very dark sky, it will even be visible to the naked eye, appearing as a fuzzy star. In a small telescope, the King of Globulars looks like a fuzzy snowball. In a larger telescope (8-inch or larger), the fuzzy snowball resolves into hundreds of individual stars. It is truly a jewel box in the sky. Even small telescopes will resolve some individual stars around its perimeter. Using the “averted vision” technique (by looking slightly to the side of the cluster instead of looking directly at it) will resolve more stars, especially at the core of the cluster.
Globular clusters are some of the most interesting objects to observe in the night sky. M13 in Hercules is a very popular one.
Tuesday, June 9 — Venus-Jupiter conjunction
The two brightest planets are just 1.5° apart in tonight’s sky. Look to the west-northwest sky at dusk this evening to spot the two planets as they make this close approach. Venus and Jupiter will be visible to the naked eye as a “double star.”
While they are too far apart for a standard high-power telescope eyepiece, any standard pair of binoculars (like 10×50) will comfortably hold both planets in the same field of view.
Venus will shine with a piercing, cold, brilliant diamond-white light. Jupiter, by contrast, will look like a softer, warmer, creamy-yellow orb.
The pair will be hanging low in the west-northwest dusk sky, sitting just to the lower left of Castor and Pollux, the twin stars of Gemini. While the twilight will make the stars tough to see early on, the planets will pop instantly.
Wednesday, June 10 — Moon near Saturn
The moon and the ringed planet stage a beautiful encounter in the constellation Pisces for the night owls and early-rising coffee drinkers in the predawn hours.
It is a wide pairing of the two celestial objects hanging over the eastern horizon. The pair rises around 2:30 a.m., but waiting until 4:00 a.m. allows them to climb nearly 25° to 30° above the eastern horizon — getting them cleanly out of the turbulent ground haze just before astronomical twilight begins to brighten the sky around 4:45 a.m. The optimal window lies between 3:30 a.m. and 4:30 a.m.
Since they are separated by 6° (about the width of three fingers held at arm’s length), they are too far apart to fit into a standard telescope eyepiece together. This is primarily a naked-eye and wide-field binocular spectacle. They are a “tight squeeze” for a standard pair of 7×50 binoculars. You can barely frame both the ash-colored crescent moon and Saturn in the exact same field of view on opposite edges of the glass.
While advanced amateurs can’t image them together, 4:00 a.m. is the absolute best time to swing a high-power planetary scope onto Saturn. After turning completely edge-on and virtually disappearing from view earlier this year, Saturn’s rings are now very slowly beginning to open back up. Through a telescope at 150x or higher, the rings will look like an ultra-thin, razor-sharp silver needle piercing straight through the planet’s disk. It is a highly dramatic orientation that astrophotographers love because it accentuates the planet’s atmospheric banding.
Thursday, June 11 — Variable star Delta Cephei
Delta Cephei is the yellow supergiant star forming the lower-left corner of the “home plate” house shape of Cepheus the King. It is the legendary prototype for an entire class of pulsating cosmic superpowers. Its entire 5.37-day cycle can be observed with the naked eye.
Unlike static stars, Delta Cephei physically expands and contracts, causing its brightness to fluctuate between magnitudes 3.5 and 4.4 every 5 days or so. If you look at it tonight and check back every night for a week, you will witness a complete lifecycle of stellar pulsations.
It is a circumpolar star (for virtually all observers at latitudes above 32° N) that never sets and stands high above the northeastern sky by midnight.
The change in its brightness is easy to measure thanks to its two neighboring stars, Zeta Cephei and Epsilon Cephei, which do not change brightness. When you look up, see which neighbor Delta matches. If it matches Zeta, it’s blazing at peak power. If it matches Epsilon, it has dimmed to its baseline brightness.
If advanced amateurs point a small telescope or even high-power binoculars at Delta Cephei, they get a fabulous dual-target reward. Delta is a gorgeous optical double star. Sitting 41 arcseconds away is Delta-C, a beautiful magnitude 6.3 companion star that glows with a distinct, icy-blue hue. The color contrast between the golden-yellow pulsating supergiant and its crisp blue neighbor is one of the prettiest sights in the northern sky.
Friday, June 12 — Three-Planet alignment
Mercury, Venus, and Jupiter align low over the western horizon after sunset, creating a very satisfying mini planetary parade and a perfect astrophoto opportunity using a wide-angle lens or even just a smartphone.
Even though Venus and Jupiter have drifted apart slightly since their tight embrace on June 9, Mercury has climbed up beautifully from the sun’s glare to join the party. Together, they form a striking slanted line along the ecliptic in the west-northwestern sky right after sunset.
This is a high-speed game. The optimal viewing window starts exactly 30 minutes after your local sunset and lasts for only about 30 to 45 minutes before Jupiter and Mercury follow the sun below the horizon.
Look for blazing Venus first — it will pop out while the sky is still bright. Drop your eyes down and slightly to the right to easily spot Mercury and Jupiter.
For advanced observers with high-end glass or imaging rigs, June 12 is a premier “phase and scale” challenge. Venus will show a small, intensely bright, 80%-illuminated gibbous disk. Mercury will present a stark contrast with its 50%-illuminated “half-moon” phase. Resolving a clean, tiny half-Mercury in twilight is an elite visual feather in any amateur’s cap. Jupiter will present a colossal 31-arcsecond disk. Even though Jupiter will be sitting low in the hazy horizon air and distorted by atmospheric turbulence, advanced imagers can try to capture its iconic equatorial belts side-by-side with Mercury’s clean silhouette.
Put away your prime-focus telescope adaptors and grab a 50 mm to 85 mm prime lens on a DSLR/mirrorless camera. June 12 is all about landscape composition. Expose for the deep twilight sky colors and frame the three planets as a slanted cosmic ladder ascending over a crisp local silhouette — like a mountain ridge, a distant city skyline, or a line of pine trees.
Saturday, June 13 — Moon near the Pleiades
Before the sun rises, the thin crescent moon will keep company with the Seven Sisters over the eastern horizon for the night owls and early birds.
The moon will only be approximately 5% illuminated, visible yet not so bright as to flush out the Pleiades. The Pleiades make up a very popular open star cluster. Some of its constituent stars can be resolved with the naked eye. Although it is much smaller than the Little or Big Dipper, some mistake it for the famous asterisms in Ursa Major. Located in the constellation Taurus, the cluster contains over 1,000 stars. The Pleiades are a spectacular sight. Using low magnification allows one to capture the entire star cluster in a single view.
Sunday, June 14 — Globular Cluster M5 (All Night)
Because of its very dense, bright core, this globular cluster is often considered even more beautiful than the King of Globular Clusters (M13). Despite their shared characteristics, each globular cluster is unique and a true pleasure to observe. Globular star clusters are “jewel boxes” in the sky. There is a “wow” factor associated with the first glimpse of a globular cluster through a telescope. For some, that feeling never goes away, even after years of observation.
In a small telescope, M5 will look like a glowing and fuzzy snowball at first. If you let your eyes relax and adjust, you will start to see why it is called a jewel box when some of its component stars on the outer edges start resolving into tiny diamonds. A globular cluster is arguably the most distinctly three-dimensional object you can look at through a telescope. Setting it apart from its spherical siblings, M5 appears slightly squashed, which makes it even more interesting to observe. Its bright and dense core also stands out from its outer halo of stars.
When it comes to magnification, globular clusters are different from galaxies and nebulas. While the faint light coming from those celestial objects does not play well with higher magnification, using a higher-powered eyepiece will darken the background sky and bring the individual stars of a globular cluster into greater detail.
First, locate M5 using a low-power eyepiece and increase the magnification later to see how much detail your equipment can bring out.
If you have trouble seeing the faint outer stars of the cluster, gently tap your telescope’s tube. Human peripheral vision is highly sensitive to movement. The vibration from the tap will disturb the movement and your brain will immediately register dozens of stars previously not visible.
M5 is a challenging target for observers using more advanced equipment. The core will resolve into individual pinpoints of light when using a larger aperture telescope. M5’s “star chains” (also called its “spider’s legs”) are highly sought after by advanced observers. Distinct, curved streams of stars appear to radiate outward from the central core, looking remarkably like the curved legs of a spider reaching out into the dark.
Monday, June 15 –The Milky Way and Cygnus Nebulas
The darkest night of the month provides a treasure trove of observing opportunities. From a dark site, it is possible to see the “Great Rift,” the dark dust lanes of the Milky Way, with the naked eye. If possible, head out of the city or suburb and find the best possible dark site to enjoy this truly inspiring sight.
Seeing the Milky Way with the unaided eye is also the most persuasive proof that you do not need expensive equipment to enjoy the wonders of the night sky. As your eyes adapt, the Milky Way will first appear as a faint glowing band. Once you look closer, you will notice dark, jagged, seemingly empty patches cutting through the glowing white band. This is the “Great Rift” — massive, ancient lanes of cold cosmic dust physically blocking starlight from the galaxy’s core!
This is also the perfect evening for more advanced observers to head out to a Bortle 3 location (i.e., a rural sky) or better to hunt down faint nebulas like NGC6960 and NGC6992 (the Veil Nebula Complex), IC5070 (the Pelican Nebula) and NGC7000 (the North America Nebula).
The Veil Nebula is the sprawling remains of a massive star. Observing it under a dark sky and with the help of an O-III (Oxygen III) filter is a very satisfying experience.
The Pelican Nebula is an emission nebula located right next to the famous North America Nebula, separated by a dark molecular dust cloud. This is an elite target for astrophotographers using hydrogen-alpha (H-alpha) filters. Long exposures will reveal the spectacular, towering ionization front—a glowing ridge of gas where the Pelican’s shape is carved by the harsh ultraviolet light of nearby young stars.
The North America Nebula is a favorite “rite of passage” for advanced amateurs under Bortle 3 skies. The North America Nebula has a bright integrated magnitude of about +4.0. In theory, that makes it a naked-eye object. The catch is its sheer size: it spans an area of sky more than ten times the size of the full moon (roughly 120 x 100 arcminutes). Because that light is spread out over such a massive area, its surface brightness is extremely low, causing it to easily blend into the background glow of the Milky Way.
Under a Bortle 3 sky, you can put your telescope away. Once your eyes are fully dark-adapted, look about 3° east of the bright star Deneb. The nebula will appear as a faint, detached, irregular patch of the Milky Way. A standard pair of 10×50 binoculars will easily show its outline, framed by the dark dust lanes that surround it.
This is a trap for people with massive Dobsonian telescopes. Because it is so large, high magnification will look right “through” the nebula, and the observer won’t even realize it is in the eyepiece. Instead, use a wide-field refractor (like an 80 mm or 100 mm) paired with your lowest-power eyepiece. This will ensure a true field of view of at least 3°. To make the shape snap into view, use a UHC (Ultra High Contrast) or O-III filter. They will dim the overwhelming sea of background stars while letting the hydrogen and oxygen emissions of the nebula shine through, drastically improving the contrast.
Tuesday, June 16 — The Razor-Thin moon meets Mercury
This is a rare opportunity to spy Mercury, which is always close to the sun. The two-day-old waxing crescent moon will be sitting near Mercury, low over the western horizon. About 40 minutes after sunset, scan the west-northwest horizon. Even though it will be very thin (barely 4% illuminated), the moon should be easy to spot. At magnitude +0.5, Mercury will be glowing just a few degrees away from the sliver of the moon.
The twilight glare will wash out the naked-eye view, but 10×50 binoculars will easily punch through the hazy sunset gradient to reveal the delicate earthshine on the moon alongside Mercury.
Exercise extreme caution if you decide to observe Mercury with binoculars or a telescope. Its proximity to the sun poses a severe risk of permanent eye damage.
Jupiter and Venus will also be highly visible above and to the left of the moon.
Wednesday, June 17 – Daylight occultation of Venus
This is the rarest and most technical event of the month. For most of North America, the moon will slide over Venus in the mid-afternoon. And the chances of witnessing this rare event are good, provided that the skies are clear and deep blue.
There is danger involved; since the event takes place in the mid-afternoon (roughly between 3:30 p.m. and 5:00 p.m. EDT), the sun will still be high in the sky. The moon and Venus will be situated roughly 38° away from the sun. Anyone scanning the sky with binoculars or a telescope must be incredibly careful not to accidentally sweep across the sun, which will cause instant, permanent eye damage.
NEVER sweep the daytime sky with binoculars or a telescope without knowing exactly where the sun is. To view this safely, you should place your telescope in the physical shadow of a building so the sun is completely blocked by the roofline. Through a telescope, watching the jagged, unlit edge of the lunar crescent slowly consume the brilliant white disk of Venus against a blue daytime sky is an unforgettable sight.
The moon will be a very thin, waxing crescent (about 2 to 3 days old and roughly 11% to 14% illuminated). Venus, however, will be blazing at a magnitude of -4.0.
While Venus is technically bright enough to be seen with the naked eye during the day if you have 20/20 vision and know exactly where to look, the daylight washes out the contrast. Binoculars or a telescope are exactly what you want here. The crescent moon acts as a perfect celestial guidepost to help locate the planet, and the optics will provide a spectacular view of Venus slipping behind the unilluminated edge of the lunar disk.
If you would rather not explore the sky during the daytime, the evening sky will also host a conjunction of the moon and the Beehive Cluster (M44). The waxing crescent moon will be sitting near the heart of Cancer. Once the sky is fully dark (the best window is 45 to 60 minutes after sunset), look to the moon. Just a few degrees away, you will find a faint, fuzzy patch of light — it is the Beehive Cluster. Through binoculars, it completely transforms; it becomes a sparkling scattering of dozens of faint, ice blue-white stars. It spans about the width of three full moons. It will fit, along with the crescent moon, into the field of standard binoculars and offer a spectacular view.
Through binoculars, the bright sunlit sliver of the moon will be dazzling, but the rest of the lunar globe will be visibly glowing from sunlight reflecting off Earth’s oceans and clouds back onto the moon. It makes the moon look three-dimensional in the binocular field.
This event provides a good opportunity for a quick, wide-field framing astrophotography project. Mount a DSLR camera with a 135 mm lens on a tripod. Expose long enough to capture the glittering swarm of the Beehive’s stars but keep it short enough to preserve the earthshine on the dark side of the lunar crescent.
Thursday, June 18 — Close approach of Venus and the Beehive Cluster
If you missed the Beehive Cluster’s encounter with the moon yesterday, you could still enjoy seeing the glow of its component stars this evening as it visits another member of the solar system: our sister planet, Venus.
It is a stunning visual pairing in the early evening sky over the western horizon. Binoculars are the right tool to enjoy the sight of bright Venus (at -4.0 magnitude) and the faint, scattered, icy-blue diamond-like stars of the Beehive Cluster in the same field of view.
Friday, June 19 — The moon and the Lion’s Heart
The moon will be 0.3° away from (and in some areas occult) Regulus, the brightest star in Leo, today.
South Africa, Zimbabwe, Botswana, Mozambique, Tanzania, Zambia, Madagascar, Réunion and parts of South America will be some of the prime locations for the encounter. For North American stargazers, by the time the sky is dark enough on the evening of June 19, the moon will have already cleared Regulus. We will be left with a standard — though still very pretty — pairing of the waxing crescent moon sitting near the star.
This is an easy, high-visibility naked-eye event. Regulus (magnitude +1.4) will sit just a few degrees from the moon.
Regulus sits almost exactly on the ecliptic (the sun’s apparent path across the sky). This is exactly why it is so frequently visited — and occasionally occulted — by the moon and planets. Also called “The Heart of the Lion,” it marks the bottom-right anchor of the famous “Sickle” asterism (the backward question mark) that forms the head and chest of Leo. It is one of the easiest star-hopping targets in the spring and early summer skies.
Regulus is a brilliant B-type main-sequence star. Naked-eye observers and binocular users should look for its distinct, icy blue-white tint, which provides a beautiful visual contrast when sitting right next to the pale, silvery glow of the moon.
Regulus is not a single star; it is actually a quadruple star system. The primary challenge for backyard scopes is splitting the blistering primary star (Regulus A) from its much fainter companion (Regulus B). Regulus A shines at magnitude +1.4, while Regulus B is a magnitude +8.1 orange dwarf. They are separated by a very generous 177 arcseconds. The distance makes it theoretically easy to split even in a small 60 mm refractor, but the intense glare of Regulus A easily washes out the fainter companion. It requires decent seeing conditions and a good, clean eyepiece.
Saturday, June 20 — The Whirlpool Galaxy
The Whirlpool Galaxy (M51) is a stunning, “face-on” galaxy, something astronomers call a “grand design spiral.” In a more powerful amateur telescope (8-inch diameter or more), its spiral arms and its smaller companion galaxy (NGC5195) that it is pulling apart are visible under a dark sky.
Located in Canes Venatici, it can be more easily located looking just off the end star of the Big Dipper’s handle (Alkaid).
Dark skies are mandatory to view this beautiful galaxy. You need a darker suburban sky or country sky to fully appreciate it. In 10×50 binoculars or a small 4-inch tabletop telescope, you are not going to see a swirling spiral. You will see two faint, fuzzy, glowing cotton balls sitting next to each other.
In an 8-inch or 10-inch Dobsonian under dark skies, this is one of the very few galaxies where the spiral structure reveals itself to the human eye. Use averted vision (looking slightly off to the side of the galaxy rather than directly at it) to spot the dark dust lanes and the sweeping curve of the arms.
The Whirlpool Galaxy is a rewarding astrophotography target. Astrophotographers should aim to capture the faint band of dust and stars — the “tidal bridge” — physically connecting the main galaxy to its dwarf companion. When using a modified DSLR or a dedicated astronomy camera, M51 reveals itself beautifully to H-alpha filters. The galaxy’s spiral arms are loaded with active stellar nurseries that will pop as brilliant pink/red knots against the blue-white light of the spiral structure.
Sunday, June 21 — Noctilucent cloud season
Mid-June is the official kickoff for hunting noctilucent clouds (NLC). These are the highest clouds in Earth’s atmosphere, formed by ice crystals clinging to meteor dust at the edge of space. Because they are so high up, they continue to catch the sun’s rays long after the sun has set. For observers on the ground, they glow with a beautiful, electric-blue color low against the northern horizon.
Mid-northern latitudes (around the 45th parallel and higher) are the absolute prime locations for spotting them during the short summer nights.
NLCs are only visible during deep twilight when the sun is between 6° and 16° below the horizon. NLCs will appear in the twilight glow directly above where the sun is hidden. Look northwest to north-northeast, 60 to 90 minutes after sunset. If you want a constellation to guide you, the distinctive “W” shape of Cassiopeia will be easy to spot, skimming low along the north-northeast horizon.
Monday, June 22 — The unpredictable June Bootids
The Bootids are a famous wildcard. Most years, the Bootid meteor shower produces a mere 1 to 2 meteors per hour. However, it will sometimes surprise observers with an outburst of 100+ meteors per hour (as it did in 1998 and 2004). This evening, the waxing gibbous moon will not help, washing out the faint ones.
The viewing window starts today and the Bootids traditionally peak around June 27.
Bootids are notoriously slow-moving meteors. They strike Earth’s atmosphere at a sluggish 18 km/s. This slow entry produces exceptionally long, graceful, and luminous trails that glide beautifully across the dark summer sky. If you see a bright streak lazily drifting across the sky, rather than snapping quickly, you’ve likely caught a Bootid.
Originating from the debris trail of the comet 7P/Pons-Winnecke, these meteors radiate from the northern section of the constellation Boötes (The Herdsman).
Tuesday, June 23 — The “Double Double” (Epsilon Lyrae)
Located right next to Vega is an interesting multiple star system that is a rite of passage for all amateur astronomers. Starlight is not affected much by the moon, making this a perfect, frustration-free target for this evening despite the waxing gibbous moon.
When looking at Epsilon Lyrae through 10×50 binoculars or a low-power finder scope, it easily splits into two distinct white stars. If you crank the magnification up past 150x on a night with calm, steady air, each of those two stars splits again into its own binary pair. Epsilon Lyrae is a four-star system. Successfully resolving all four individual pinpricks of light is one of the classic rites of passage tests for both atmospheric seeing conditions and the optical quality of a telescope’s optics.
Wednesday, June 24 — The smoke ring of Lyra
The waxing gibbous moon is very bright, washing out most faint galaxies and diffuse nebulas. Still, celestial objects with high surface brightness or bright point-sources of light can punch right through the illuminated atmosphere. This evening is a great time to hunt down two “moon-proof” deep-sky challenges.
Located in the constellation Lyra, the Ring Nebula (M57) is a sought-after summer planetary nebula. Because the gas expelled by the dead star at its center is packed into a concentrated area, its high surface brightness allows it to cut through moonlight.
Find bright, ice-blue Vega, which should be dominating the eastern sky. Just below Vega is a small parallelogram of four stars forming the “harp.” M57 sits exactly halfway between the bottom two stars of that shape (Sulafat and Sheliak). In binoculars or a small scope, it will just look like a faint, slightly out-of-focus star.
Pushing the magnification up in a 6-inch or larger telescope reveals the iconic “smoke ring” or “cosmic donut” shape. An Oxygen-III or UHC filter is well worth the investment to reveal more details. They block out the broad-spectrum moonlight and only let the specific wavelength of the nebula’s glowing oxygen through, drastically boosting the contrast.
The Ring Nebula is a good deep-space astrophoto target under a bright moon. Dual-band or narrowband filters (H-alpha and OIII) will completely ignore the moonlight, allowing imagers to capture the vivid red outer fringes and inner core of the nebula.
Thursday, June 25 — The dusk drag race: Mercury and Jupiter
Mercury and Jupiter will be close to one another in the low western sky this evening. It is a challenging event to view because both planets will be skimming the horizon’s “muck.” You will need a perfectly clear western view right after sunset. Binoculars are mandatory to cut through the twilight. If you catch them, you will see the solar system‘s smallest planet sitting right next to its largest. Venus will also be visible, somewhat higher in the sky, and easier to spot.
Exercise extreme caution if you decide to observe Mercury and Jupiter with binoculars or a telescope today. Their proximity to the sun poses a severe risk of permanent eye damage.
Friday, June 26 — The Cub Scout Double: Albireo
In North America, the official colors of the Cub Scouts are blue and gold. Because Albireo’s two stars glow so vividly with those exact hues — a warm golden-yellow primary and a subtle bluish-white companion — it earned the affectionate nickname of the “Cub Scout star” or “Cub Scout double.”
Albireo is also known as the “beak” of Cygnus the Swan. It is one of the most beautiful double stars in the summer sky. Even a small telescope will instantly split it into a brilliant golden-yellow star and a striking icy-white companion. It’s the ultimate crowd-pleaser for weekend star parties.
Saturday, June 27 — The moon and the Scorpion’s Heart
The waxing gibbous moon will appear near Antares this evening. For observers in parts of the far Southern Hemisphere (like Antarctica, southern Africa, southeastern Australia and New Zealand), it will be a full-blown lunar occultation — the moon actually will pass directly in front of the star, hiding it completely for a short time. But from a North American vantage point, the two objects will simply appear close together in the sky.
Sunday, June 28 — Dawn Patrol: Mars meets the Seven Sisters
For the night owls or early birds, Mars will pass the Pleiades (M45) in the predawn sky. You’ll have to be up and around at 4:00 a.m. to enjoy this sight. Look low over the eastern horizon, where you will spy the Pleiades and the rusty-red spark of Mars not too far from the blue cluster of the Pleiades. This is a stunning framing opportunity for an astrophoto using a 200 mm lens. The contrast between the red planet and the blue reflection nebulosity of the cluster is quite a sight to see.
Monday, June 29 — The full moon
Today, the moon is rising in the east exactly as the sun sets in the west. From our perspective, this is the only time of the month when the moon is fully illuminated.
Because the moon is directly opposite the sun, there are virtually no shadows on the lunar surface. It looks like a flat, glowing disk, and the “Man in the Moon” (the dark lunar maria) takes on an almost ghostly appearance. It’s the perfect night to contrast the “flat” look of the moon with the high-relief, shadow-filled features we’ve been observing this month.
Because the moon doesn’t orbit in a perfect circle and its axis is slightly tilted, it appears to “wobble” over the course of a month — this is called “libration,” and it’s a very interesting phenomenon because it often reveals craters that are usually hidden around the curve of the horizon. It’s a great night to look for Endymion, a flat-bottomed crater near the northeastern limb, which can look more circular or more oval depending on the libration.
Tuesday, June 30 — Tycho’s Rays — The Albedo Challenge
The moon, still being nearly full, makes it difficult to observe most of what the night sky has to offer. However, this is a great time to see the magnificent ejecta rays of the Tycho crater (a.k.a., the massive, bright “belly button” in the southern hemisphere of the moon).
During a full moon, from our perspective, the sun is shining straight down on the lunar surface. All the shadows vanish. Without shadows to give the craters depth, the only thing we can see is the difference in reflectivity, which is what we call the “albedo” contrast between the dark basalt and the bright, highly reflective white streaks of the Tycho impact. At its most basic, albedo is the measure of how much light a surface reflects.
Albedo is measured on a scale from 0 to 1 (or 0% to 100%). A surface with an albedo of 0 is pitch-black and absorbs all light. A surface with an albedo of 1 is perfectly white and reflects all light. Believe it or not, the moon is incredibly dark. Its average albedo is only about 0.12 — meaning it reflects roughly 12% of the sunlight that hits it. The lunar surface is the color of old, weathered asphalt. It only looks blindingly bright because it is set against the pitch-black backdrop of space and is being hit by the immense power of the sun.
The dark, flat areas of the moon (the maria or “seas”) are made of ancient basalt lava that has been baked and darkened by billions of years of solar radiation. But when the Tycho impact happened relatively recently, it blasted fresh, unweathered pulverized rock across the surface. This fresh ejecta has a much higher albedo than the older rock beneath it, which is why Tycho’s rays pop.
Skywatching terms
Gibbous: Used to describe a planet or moon that is more than 50% illuminated.
Asterism: A noteworthy or striking pattern of stars within a larger constellation.
Degrees (measuring the sky): The sky is 360 degrees all the way around, which means roughly 180 degrees from horizon to horizon. It’s easy to measure distances between objects: Your fist on an outstretched arm covers about 10 degrees of sky, while a finger covers about one degree.
Visual Magnitude: This is the astronomer’s scale for measuring the brightness of objects in the sky. The dimmest object visible in the night sky under perfectly dark conditions is about magnitude 6.5. Brighter stars are magnitude 2 or 1. The brightest objects get negative numbers. Venus can be as bright as magnitude -4.9. The full moon is -12.7 and the sun is -26.8.
Terminator: The boundary on the moon between sunlight and shadow.
Zenith: The point in the sky directly overhead.
Night sky observing tips
Adjust to the dark: If you wish to observe fainter objects, such as meteors, dim stars, nebulas, and galaxies, give your eyes at least 15 minutes to adjust to the darkness. Avoid looking at your phone’s bright screen by keeping it tucked away. If you must use it, set the brightness to minimum — or cover it with clingy red film.
Light Pollution: Even from a big city, one can see the moon, a handful of bright stars, and the brightest planets — if they are above the horizon. But to fully enjoy the heavens — especially a meteor shower, the fainter constellations, or to see the amazing swath across the sky that is the disk of our home galaxy, the Milky Way — rural areas are best for night sky viewing. If you’re stuck in a city or suburban area, use a tree or dark building to block ambient light (or moonlight) and help reveal fainter sky objects. If you’re in the suburbs, simply turning off outdoor lights can help.
Prepare for skywatching: If you plan to be outside for more than a few minutes, and it’s not a warm summer evening, dress more warmly than you think is necessary. An hour of winter observing can chill you to the bone. For meteor showers, a blanket or a lounge chair will prove to be much more comfortable than standing or sitting in a chair and craning your neck to see overhead.
Daytime skywatching: On the days surrounding the first quarter, the moon is visible in the afternoon daytime sky. At last quarter, the moon rises before sunrise and lingers in the morning sky. When Venus is at a significant angle away from the sun, it can often be spotted during the day as a brilliant point of light — but you’ll need to consult an astronomy app to know when and where to look for it. When large sunspots develop on the sun, they can be seen without a telescope — as long as you use proper solar filters, such as eclipse glasses. Permanent eye damage can occur if you look at the sun for any length of time without protective eyewear.
