What’s Up in the Night Sky – June 2026
from In-The-Sky.org
Moon Phases
Last Quarter – June 8
New Moon – June 14
First Quarter – June 21
Full – June 29 – The Strawberry Moon, also called The Honey Moon
Close Encounters
June 2 – The Great Globular Cluster (M13) in Hercules is visible all night, rising at sunset and setting at sunrise.
June 3 – The Globular Cluster M12 in Ophiuchus is visible all night, rising at sunset and setting at sunrise.
June 5 – Venus reaches its highest point in the evening sky in this apparition. The magnitude -4.3 spark of light is 28° above the western horizon at sunset.
June 6 – The Globular Cluster M10 in Ophiuchus is visible all night, rising at sunset and setting at sunrise.
June 7 – The Globular Cluster M62 in Ophiuchus is visible all night, rising at sunset and setting at sunrise. Its southern placement in the sky means it never rises more than 21° above the southern horizon.
June 9 – Venus and Jupiter are in conjunction in the western sky. Venus is magnitude -4.0 and Jupiter is magnitude -1.9, both in Gemini. Only 23° above the western horizon, they set about 2.5 hours after the Sun.
June 9 – Mercury is at dichotomy, with the planet showing its half-phase only about 18° above the western horizon as sunset. It shines at magnitude 0.0 a bit north of Venus and Jupiter.
June 10 – The Moon and Saturn are in conjunction, separated by over 6° in the early morning sky. They rise together about 2:20am in Pisces.
June 11 – The Globular Cluster M92 in Hercules is visible all night, rising at sunset and setting at sunrise.
June 16 – The Moon and Mercury are near each other in the western sky as the Sun sets.
June 17 – The Moon occults Venus for all of the contiguous Unites States. Venus disappears behind the Moon at 2:22pm and reappears at 3:52pm. Both events occur during the day so use the 3-day old Moon as your guide. See the link for more information. https://in-the-sky.org/news.php?id=20260617_16_100
Use caution attempting to watch this event as the Sun is above the horizon and nearby.
June 21 – The summer solstice. Days begin to get shorter from now until the first day of winter on December 21.
June 23 – The Lagoon Nebula (M8) in Sagittarius is visible all night, rising at sunset and setting at sunrise.
Major Meteor Showers – from https://www.amsmeteors.org/meteor-showers/meteor-shower-calendar/
No major meteor showers are present during June.
Planet Watch for June 15, 2026
Mercury is too close to the Sun for good viewing. It’s only 10° above the western horizon at sunset.
Venus is visible in the western sky starting around 8:45pm and remains above the horizon until nearly 11pm.
Mars is not observable as it is only 12° above the eastern horizon at sunrise.
Jupiter becomes visible in the western sky near Venus at 8:45pm as the setting Sun dims and remains visible until nearly 11pm.
Saturn rises in the east around 2am and reaches an altitude of 31° as the Sun rises around 4:50am. It shines at magnitude 0.6 in Pisces.
Uranus is not visible due to its proximity to the Sun.
Neptune rises around 1:30am and reaches an altitude of 28° above the south-eastern horizon at sunrise. Neptune shines faintly a magnitude 7.9 in Pisces.