Throughout June, the evening sky continues to belong to Venus.
The planet resembles a celestial night light in the western sky for two or three hours after sundown, although during the course of this month — in a subtle manner — it will be losing altitude after it reaches its greatest angular distance east of the sun on June 4, and then begins its march back toward the sun. During the latter part of the month, Mars hovers not far to the upper left of Venus, though it shines only about 1/250 as bright.
The other planets are early risers. Saturn appears in the east-southeast by or soon after midnight, followed by brilliant Jupiter a few hours later low in the east, and finally, rather deeply immersed in the dawn twilight is Mercury which is accessible with difficulty during the first half of June about an hour before sunup. Binoculars will be most beneficial in sighting this innermost planet.
Related: Night sky, June 2023: What you can see tonight [maps]
Looking for a telescope to see the planets or anything else in the June night sky? We recommend the Celestron Astro Fi 102 as the top pick in our best beginner's telescope guide.
In our schedule, remember that when measuring the angular separation between two celestial objects, your clenched fist held at arm's length measures roughly 10 degrees. Here, we present a schedule below which provides some of the best planet viewing times as well directs you as to where to look to see them.
If you want a closer look at our solar system planets and don't have all the gear you need, check out our guides for the best binoculars and the best telescopes to view the planets or anything else in the sky. For capturing the best skywatching images, we have recommendations for the best cameras for astrophotography and best lenses for astrophotography.
- The best night sky events to see in 2023
- When, where and how to see the planets in the 2023 night sky
- Night sky, June 2023: What you can see tonight [maps]
The sun
While not a planet, our star has a special event scheduled for June. The sun stands at the solstice at 10:58 a.m. EDT (1458 GMT) on June 21. At that moment, the sun is directly over the Tropic of Cancer, after which it begins its six-month return southward. The solstice marks the beginning of astronomical summer for the Northern Hemisphere, and astronomical winter in the Southern Hemisphere.
Mercury
Mercury rises in the dawn a respectable one hour before sunrise during the first half of June for observers at mid-northern latitudes, and it brightens from magnitude 0.3 to -0.7. But these statistics are misleading. June dawns are long, just like June evening twilights, and the sky is quite bright by the time Mercury rises a few degrees above the eastern horizon. This makes Mercury a fairly tough target unless you use binoculars.
Superior conjunction, which occurs when Earth, Mercury and the sun are all in a straight line with the sun in the middle, will take place on July 1.
Venus
Venus dominates the western sky after sunset for yet another month and forms a compact, almost horizontal line with the "Twin Stars," Pollux and Castor to its right. It reaches greatest elongation (45 degrees east of the sun) on June 4. How soon before then will your telescope seem to show it exactly half-lit? Venus is beginning to decline in twilight. Skywatchers at 40 degrees north latitude see it 25 degrees high an hour after sunset on June 1, but by June 30 it's only 15 degrees high an hour after sunset and sets less than a half hour after twilight's end.
Venus spends the month brightening from -4.4 to -4.6, just short of the peak brilliance it will reach in early July. On June 13 and 14, Venus will be passing within less than 1-degree of the middle of M44, the famous Beehive Star Cluster (use binoculars or a wide-field telescope). Look for M44 lower left of Venus on June 13, and below it on June 14.
Then, on the first evening of summer, June 21, about an hour after sunset, look low toward the west to see a striking configuration involving a waxing crescent moon, Venus, and a much fainter Mars. Venus will be positioned 3 degrees to the lower left of the moon. In a telescope the planet is now rapidly waning in phase while growing in size. These are signs that Venus is swinging toward us in its orbit, on its way to passing between the Earth and sun in August.
Mars
Mars shines at magnitude 1.7 throughout June, which classes it as a 2nd-magnitude object, quite a comedown from last December when it ranked among the brightest objects in the night sky! Not only is Mars on the far side of its orbit as seen from Earth, but it also just passed aphelion, its farthest from the sun ,on May 30. And, of course, Mars is a small planet to begin with, making it dimmer in the night sky.
On the evening of June 21, Mars will appear 4.5 degrees to the upper left of Venus. Mars is tiny and faint in comparison to Venus and you'll likely need binoculars to see it at all in the bright twilight even after Venus becomes obvious. In fact, from June 19 through July 10, Mars undergoes a quasi-conjunction with Venus as the more brilliant world draws close but never quite catches up.
A quasi-conjunction is defined as two planets approaching to within 5 degrees of each other — half the width of your clenched fist held at arm's length — without an actual conjunction in right ascension, the celestial equivalent of longitude.
Jupiter
Jupiter shines at magnitude -2.1 or -2.2 near the southern border of Aries. It rises about 2 hours before the sun on June 1 and 3.5 hours before sunup on June 30.
But the best time to observe it through a telescope is when its higher in morning twilight. On Flag Day morning (June 14) the waning crescent moon will be floating about 2 degrees to Jupiter's left.
Saturn
The ringed planet Saturn rises in the east-southeast around 1:30 a.m. local daylight time at the beginning of June, and around 11:30 p.m. (three hours after sunset) at month's end. But the best view of it comes at morning twilight's first stirring, when Saturn hangs fairly high in the southeast.
Saturn's rings are now at their least visible for the year, only 7.3 degrees from appearing edgewise, making them difficult to view. The ringed world (magnitude 0.9) mimics a bright "star" shining with a sedate yellowish-white glow about a half-dozen degrees to the upper right of the last quarter moon on the morning of June 10.
Editor's Note: If you get a great photo of any of the planets 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.
Joe Rao serves as an instructor and guest lecturer at New York's Hayden Planetarium. He writes about astronomy for Natural History magazine, the Farmers' Almanac and other publications. Follow us on Twitter @Spacedotcom and on Facebook.
