Summer officially arrives in the Northern Hemisphere this month, bringing with it balmy evenings that invite us to look up.
And this year, June offers a tidy calendar of celestial sights: two brilliant planets huddling after sunset, Mercury making one of its rare appearances, a meteor shower with a wild streak, and a rare super new moon that will be unusually far from Earth, plus more.
Whether you are hunting for the faint glow of Mercury or the dense, star-filled core of the Milky Way, the month provides an accessible, naked-eye laboratory for understanding our place in the cosmos. But if you can bring a telescope or at least a pair of binoculars, you’ll enjoy the show even better.
Without further ado, here are nine sky events worth watching in June.
1. The Grand Convergence of Venus, Jupiter, and Mercury (June 1–9)
Credit: Anthony Wood/Space.com
June opens with one of the most impressive sky shows of the year: Venus and Jupiter drawing close in the evening sky.
While they remain hundreds of millions of miles apart in deep space, Earth’s perspective creates a stunning optical illusion called a conjunction. From June 1 through June 9, look northwest about 45 minutes after sunset. You will see the solar system’s two brightest planets inching closer together.
You should be able to spot both with the naked eye for a short window before they sink. Binoculars will place both worlds in the same view.
By 9:35 p.m. Eastern time on June 9, they reach their closest approach. They will sit separated by a mere 1.5 degrees — roughly the width of your pinky finger held at arm’s length. Why do planets always seem to follow the same predictable path across the sky? They trace the ecliptic plane, the flat disk of our solar system. If you look closely below the shining duo, you might even spot the elusive planet Mercury hiding in the twilight.
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2. Saturn and the Crescent Moon Rise Together (June 10–11)
Saturn and the Moon are close together in the night sky, 26 December 2025. Credit: Stellarium
Early on June 10, Saturn and a thin crescent moon will appear close together after midnight.
The pair will come within about 5 degrees of each other, or roughly three finger widths held at arm’s length. They will rise above the eastern horizon and travel across the sky until dawn.
This is one of the month’s better telescope moments. Saturn is bright enough to see with the naked eye, but being able to see its rings makes the trouble well worth it. Even a modest backyard telescope can show the ring system as a tiny, tilted oval.
3. Mars, the Moon and Saturn Form a Morning Line (June 11)
Mars, Saturn and Jupiter align with the moon below at dawn this morning in Cobham, Kent, 2020.
The next morning brings a slightly more demanding sight.
For about an hour before sunrise on June 11, Mars, the crescent moon and Saturn will form a diagonal line above the eastern horizon. You will need a low, unobstructed view — the kind you get from a shoreline, hilltop, open field or large lake.
Mars will stand out by color. Saturn looks pale yellow or cream. The crescent moon will act as the easiest signpost.
4. The Super New Moon Makes Room for the Milky Way (June 15)
Credit: Starwalk.
The new moon falls on June 15 at 6:40 p.m. Eastern time. During this phase, the moon sits perfectly between Earth and the sun, leaving its night side facing us. That makes it nearly invisible from Earth. At the same time, the moon reaches perigee — its closest physical point to Earth in its elliptical orbit. These two events combined mean June 15 is a “supermoon”.
For stargazers, the moon’s absence is the whole point of celebration, providing a dark canvas.
Moonlight washes out faint stars, nebulae and the dusty glow of the Milky Way. Around the new moon, especially on the nights immediately before and after June 15, the sky becomes darker. That makes June one of the best times in the Northern Hemisphere to look for the Milky Way’s dense central region.
You better get away from city lights. A dark-sky park, rural field or mountain road can make the difference between a faint smudge and a bright river of stars.
The Milky Way core sits toward the southern sky. To photograph it, use a tripod, a wide lens and a long exposure. To simply enjoy it, let your eyes adjust for 20 minutes and maybe avoid checking your phone.
5. Best View of Mercury (June 15)
Look out for the bright star near the horizon. Credit: Astronomical Society of Victoria/Facebook
June 15 also brings Mercury to its greatest eastern elongation, one of the best times to see the smallest planet.
Mercury is notoriously difficult to catch because it orbits close to the sun. It often hides in solar glare and appears only briefly near dawn or dusk. At greatest eastern elongation, Mercury appears farthest from the sun in the evening sky, giving observers a better chance to spot it after sunset.
Venus and Jupiter will also be nearby, making the western sky especially busy.
Do not expect much. It will appear as a small point of light low in the sky. But seeing it at all is the achievement. Of the five bright naked-eye planets known since antiquity, Mercury is usually the most elusive.
6. The Summer Solstice Peaks (June 21)
The Sun rising over Stonehenge on the morning of the Summer Solstice (21st June 2005). Credit: Wikimedia Commons.
On June 21, the Northern Hemisphere reaches the summer solstice.
Astronomically, this is the moment when the sun appears highest in the sky for the year. It marks the start of summer in the Northern Hemisphere and winter in the Southern Hemisphere.
It is also the longest day of the year north of the equator. The farther north you go, the more dramatic the effect becomes. In high-latitude regions, the sun may barely set, producing the long twilight or midnight sun associated with Arctic summers.
The solstice does not usually bring the hottest weather of the year. Temperatures often lag behind the solar peak by about a month because land and water take time to warm. That is why July, not June, is often the hottest month in many places.
7. The Bootid Meteor Shower Outburst (June 27)
Credit: Vincentiu Solomon on Unsplash.
Earth plows through fields of comet debris year-round, which burn up in our atmosphere as meteor showers. The June Bootids, peaking on June 27, originate from the remnants of a passing comet. Unlike the reliable Perseids of August, the Bootids are typically mild, producing only a few shooting stars per hour.
But the June Bootids have a reputation for unpredictability. The shower can sometimes produce intermittent outbursts, with far more meteors than expected, so don’t think too little of this event.
The meteors appear to radiate from the constellation Boötes, which climbs through the northern sky. The best time to watch is early in the night, before the radiant gets too low and before moonlight dominates the sky.
8. Mars Meets the Pleiades (Late June)
Mars and the dipper-shaped Pleiades star cluster – aka the Seven Sisters – on April 1, 2019. Credit: Abhijit Patil.
Before dawn from June 27 to June 30, a colorful contrast takes the eastern stage. Mars, glowing with its signature rusty orange, will glide past the pale-blue Pleiades star cluster.
Look above the eastern horizon about 90 minutes before sunrise. The two objects will appear within roughly 4 to 5 degrees of each other, or about three finger widths.
The Pleiades are often called the Seven Sisters because several of their stars are visible to the naked eye. In reality, the cluster contains more than 1,000 stars. It is a young stellar family by cosmic standards, and its blue stars glow hot and bright.
Mars, by contrast, shines with a rusty tint because iron-rich dust covers much of its surface. In binoculars, the pairing should look especially striking.
9. The Strawberry Moon Rises as a Micromoon (June 29)
Credit: AP.
June ends with summer’s first full moon: the Strawberry Moon, on June 29.
The name does not mean the moon will turn red. The name comes from Native American traditions linked to the early summer harvest of wild strawberries, including names used by Algonquian peoples and by Ojibwe, Dakota and Lakota communities.
This year’s Strawberry Moon is also a micromoon. That means the full moon occurs when the moon is near apogee, its farthest point from Earth. It will look slightly smaller and dimmer than an average full moon, though most casual observers may not notice the difference.
The best time to watch is moonrise, around sunset. Near the horizon, the full moon can glow gold or orange because its light passes through more of Earth’s atmosphere. The same effect reddens sunrises and sunsets.
A Full Month for Skywatchers
June serves as a brilliant reminder of our planet’s place within a vast, dynamic solar system. You do not need an advanced astrophysics degree or an expensive telescope to appreciate this cosmic theater. You simply need a dark spot, a clear horizon, and a moment to look up.
Next month also serves as a reminder of how fragile our place in the universe can be. June wraps up with International Asteroid Day (June 30), an annual awareness campaign recognized by the United Nations. Scientists established the date to commemorate the June 30, 1908, Tunguska event, when a massive space rock exploded over Siberia and flattened millions of trees. With more than 36,000 near-Earth asteroids currently tracked by NASA, the day serves as a sobering reminder of our dynamic, and occasionally hazardous, cosmic neighborhood.