Topline<\/p>\n
Here comes the defining week of June for skywatchers. Venus and Jupiter<\/a> come together in one of the most striking naked-eye events of the year, forming a brilliant pairing low in the twilight sky, with Mercury close by<\/a>. At the same time, the moon wanes toward its new phase, making this week one of dark skies. Soon, a waxing moon and the coming summer solstice will make stargazing in the Northern Hemisphere difficult. Here\u2019s everything you need to know about stargazing and the night sky from June 8-14, 2026.<\/p>\n Look for the planetary duo in the western sky about 45 minutes after sunset. <\/p>\n Sky & TelescopeTimeline<\/p>\n Tuesday, June 9Venus and Jupiter reach conjunction, appearing just over a degree apart after sunset. Venus shines seven times brighter, with Jupiter just beside it \u2014 a rare and beautiful sight with the naked eye. Both will be in the same field of view in binoculars.<\/p>\n Wednesday, June 10Before sunrise, a 32%-lit waning thin crescent moon appears low in the east just above the planet Saturn. After sunset, Mercury will be a as high in the post-sunset sky as it gets, making it a great time to see a trio of planets together. <\/p>\n Saturday, June 13Before sunrise, a 5%-lit waning thin crescent moon appears low in the east-northeast between the Pleiades open cluster and the planet Mars.<\/p>\n Sunday, June 14The moon reaches new phase, leaving the sky free of moonlight. Today also sees the earliest sunrises of the year across North America.<\/p>\n See a slim crescent moon close to the Pleaides and Mars before sunrise on June 13, 2026. <\/p>\n StellariumTHE LAST TRUE DARK-SKY WINDOW<\/p>\n This is effectively your final chance for meaningful darkness until late summer. After the solstice, the sun never drops far enough below the horizon for true night in many northern locations. To take advantage of the narrow window, be outside about 60-90 minutes after sunset, when the sky reaches peak darkness before beginning to brighten again toward dawn. That window may only last an hour if you\u2019re in northern U.S. states \u2014 but it\u2019s enough.<\/p>\n The constellation of Lyra the Harp just off the Milky Way. Vega is the bright star at top right. Albireo in Cygnus is at bottom left.<\/p>\n gettyConstellation Of The Week: Lyra<\/p>\n Lyra is a small constellation, but it\u2019s impossible to ignore because of its brightest star, Vega, one of the most luminous in the sky. It dominates summer nights. What makes Lyra useful in June is its timing. It rises just as darkness peaks, making it one of the first true summer markers. Once you spot Vega, you\u2019ve effectively located the central pillar of the summer sky.<\/p>\n Vega is one of the brightest, most famous and most important stars in the night sky. Why? It\u2019s the star astronomers use as a benchmark for brightness \u2014 it\u2019s zero. What\u2019s more, Vega was the \u201cnorth star\u201d in 12,000 B.C. and will be again around 13,700 A.D. Just 25 light-years from the solar system, Vega is 455 million years old, a tenth of the age of our sun, but 40 times brighter. It has no planets<\/a>.<\/p>\n The times and dates given apply to mid-northern latitudes. For the most accurate location-specific information, consult online planetariums like Stellarium<\/a>.<\/p>\n Further readingForbesDon\u2019t Miss Three Bright Planets Lining Up After Sunset This WeekendBy Jamie Carter<\/a>ForbesVenus And Jupiter To Almost Touch After Sunset In Close ConjunctionBy Jamie Carter<\/a>ForbesSpaceX IPO: Why Starship Could End Overnight Business TravelBy Jamie Carter<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Topline Here comes the defining week of June for skywatchers. Venus and Jupiter come together in one of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":722672,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[800,49,48,14835,261084,261082,261083,261080,797,66,306,261081,261079,259771],"class_list":["post-722671","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-space","tag-astronomy","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-conjunction","tag-conjunction-venus-jupiter","tag-crescent-moon-june-2026","tag-mercury-visibility-june-2026","tag-night-sky-this-week-june-2026","tag-planets","tag-science","tag-space","tag-stargazing-june-2026","tag-venus-jupiter-conjunction-june-2026","tag-venus-jupiter-kiss"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/722671","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=722671"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/722671\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/722672"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=722671"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=722671"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=722671"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}