Tonight's Night Sky During the Month of June
What’s in tonight’s night sky for June 2024? Venus shines brighter than ever, and the summer solstice brings one of the year’s best conjunctions between the Moon and our two neighboring planets! See Bob Berman’s June night sky guide!
Planets on Display
Venus is visible once again as an “evening star” this month! It will be visible in the west after sunset. Some nights, it looks so bright that people in the past (and, ahem, even in the present) have mistaken it for a UFO!
June skywatching starts big. Set your alarm for 4:30 A.M. on June 1. You’ll be rewarded with a captivating crescent Moon between Saturn and Mars. Both planets will have the same stunning 1-magnitude brightness. Then, due East, on the mornings of June 2 and June 3, you can locate Mars easily. The red planet is the bright orange “star” next to the Moon.
Read Next
After June 15, the giant planet Jupiter returns to our view as an early morning star. On June 30, you can witness another brilliant conjunction, with Mars hovering halfway between the Moon and Jupiter.
June 6: New Moon
Prefer to stargaze and ponder the cosmos? June 6 is your best opportunity, with the new Moon peaking at 8:38 A.M. Read more about the new Moon.
June 20: A Summer Solstice Spectacle!
The 20th (at 4:51 P.M.) marks the first day of summer for the Northern Hemisphere and the longest day of 2024 in the Northern Hemisphere. This is the day when the Sun is the highest at midday, rising from its leftmost position and setting at the year’s rightmost spot on the horizon.
June 21: Full Strawberry Moon
Get out the strawberries and cream! June’s Moon is traditionally called the “Strawberry Moon.” Find out why on our June Full Moon page.
This year’s Strawberry Moon brings with it something extra. This year, we will see an unusually amber, low-down lunar placement at 1 AM on the night of June 21-22. Since the Full Moon is always opposite the Sun, it uses the solstice occasion to sink to its very lowest point in the zodiac, in Sagittarius. But there’s more … due to the tilted orbit of the Moon, it will be in its LOWEST position for the next 18 years.
So watch the Moon that night if you’re awake in the hour after midnight. While a “low” Moon may not sound overly exciting, it really stands out when viewed in person. And, after all, such once-every-18-years events only come around a few times in one’s life. Check out our list of must-see sky-watching phenomenons for 2024 (hint, hint, this made the list).
June Stargazing
- Look for the Big Dipper riding high in the northwest at nightfall this month. Learn more about how to spot the Big Dipper and Little Dipper!
- It’s also fun to spot the Summer Triangle! See how to spot the Summer triangle, as well as other constellations and star groupings!
Click here for the June Sky Map to see a start chart for this month!
Bob Berman
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I live in Bridgeport Ct; If I face North looking west at about 3:AM I see a bright planet; the planet sets in the north westerly just before sunrise; what the planet? its beautiful; ty~
My best guess is that it's the star Arcturus. It's a red giant and the brightest star in the northern sky, and is a part of the constellation Bootes.
Thanks for the information about he star Arcturus + the constellation Bootes; I have an exceptionally good night time northern sky; ty~
Live in East York, part of Toronto, Canada and face south. What a sight on a few nights of late May, early June to see the moon so bright, and thanks to the Farmer's Almanac, I now know that the outstanding bright star to the southeast of the moon is Jupiter; just spectacular!
Can the summer equinox ever have a full moon?
Kenneth - check this out - http s://james.darpinian. com/satellites/
Hello thanks for all the information about the night sky, what really would be neat is being able to (track) the international space station, and different satellites.
I don’t know if you’ll see this since you commented years ago, but the Stellarium app shows all that!
