What to See in the Night Sky for June 2023

It’s here. After months of flirting with warmer weather in the Northern Hemisphere, June is finally here to welcome back BBQs, sunscreen, water balloons, firepits, camping, gardening, and everything else warm-weather delicious, fragrant, and visually arresting. Depending on where you live, it’s also one of the few times of the year when the stars above face some fierce competition from the fireflies below. Welcome back, nature—we’ve missed you. 

In celebration, check out some of June’s nighttime (and even daytime) highlights below. Wishing you clear skies! 

Imagine the Beauty of the Arietids Meteor Shower (June 7) 

With a peak display of more than 60 shooting stars each hour, the Arietids are one of the best meteor showers of the year. There's only one problem: they're nearly impossible to see. Unlike the Leonids or the Perseids, the Arietids are one of a few meteor showers that peak during daylight hours.

Despite the sun obscuring much of the Arietids' fiery display, there's still a chance to catch some before sunrise on the mornings of June 7 and 8. And if waking up early to see shooting stars is disagreeable, why not try hearing them? The Arietids are also known as a "radio shower" due to the way their intense speed (upwards of 75,000 mph) through Earth's atmosphere creates whining radar echoes. According to NASA, you can listen to them burning up by simply using a ham radio.

View the Sweet Beauty of the Super Strawberry Moon (June 4) 

June’s full moon, nicknamed the “Strawberry Moon’’ after the ripening crops of the eponymous sweet fruit, will reach its peak at 11:43 p.m. EDT on June 4. Alternative nicknames for the month’s full moon include the honey and/or mead moon (so named for the spring crop of honey gathered from European honeybees) and the blooming moon or green corn moon. 

Wake Up and Enjoy the Earliest Sunrise of the Year (June 14) 

While the summer solstice on June 21 is the longest day of the year, it's not the one with the earliest sunrise. What gives? There are a variety of factors that influence this quirk involving the speed and slightly elliptical path of Earth's orbit around the sun and the tilt of its axis. The math all adds up to make the earliest sunrise about a week before the summer solstice and the latest sunset about a week after. The exact date of this depends on what latitude you reside on. So, for instance, if you reside in the mid-northern latitudes in the Northern Hemisphere (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, or Boulder, Colorado), you could expect the earliest sunrise of the year to occur on June 14 at 5:31 a.m. Either way, it’s a great excuse to grab a cup of coffee, sit outside, and revel in the impending return to summer. 

June’s New Moon Welcomes Dark Skies (June 18)

Thanks to a late New Moon on May 30, June will kick off with some exceptionally dark skies. For the first week at least, you can train your eyes, binoculars, or telescope and be treated to pristine views of galaxies, shooting stars, and other wonders otherwise dimmed by moonlight. 

 Need a target? This month, in honor of summer’s official arrival and the discovery of a new supernova, we’re recommending The Pinwheel Galaxy (M101). Discovered in 1781 by Pierre Méchain, and located some 21 million light-years from Earth, this face-on spiral galaxy stretches 170,000 light-years across (our own Milky Way, by comparison, spans an estimated 100,000-120,000 light-years) and contains around a trillion stars. On May 19, 2023, a Type II supernova was observed occurring within the Pinwheel Galaxy, the first from that region since 2011. With the New Moon removing troublesome moonlight, you should be able to easily spot the new supernova with a small telescope. 

Welcome the Summer Solstice & Longest Day (June 21)

The summer solstice, the astronomical start of summer in the Northern Hemisphere (and conversely, the start of winter in the Southern), will occur on June 21 at 10:57 a.m. At this moment, the Earth will be at the point in its orbit where the North Pole is at its maximum tilt. For those of us up North, this gives us our longest day of the year with anywhere from 13 hours and 45 minutes (Miami, Florida) to 19 hours and 21 minutes (Anchorage, Alaska) of daylight. With the Sun directly overhead at noon, it’s also the day that you’ll cast your shortest shadow. After the 21st, we’ll once again start losing daylight and begin the long march back toward the darker days of winter—so enjoy it while you can! And just after the sun sets…

Look West To View A Celestial Trio of Mars, Venus, and the Crescent Moon (June 21)

While Venus will put on a show after sunset all month long, it will be joined by a thin crescent moon and Mars during dusk on the evening of June 21. Cap off the longest day of the year by watching this trio welcome the shortest evening of the year. 

Grab a Drink, Relax, and Enjoy the Year’s Latest Sunset (June 27) 

June 27th, for us northern dwellers, marks the year’s latest sunset, with locations like New York City watching the sun slip below the horizon at 8:31 p.m. EDT. While you’re at it, stay up a few more hours to….

Catch the Bootid Meteor Shower (June 27)

The end of June brings the return of the Bootids meteor shower, an annual event that (thankfully) can be enjoyed during the evening hours. Well, "enjoyed" may not be the right word, as the Bootids are notorious for having extremely weak displays, with as little as two to three shooting stars per hour. The reason they're worth mentioning at all is because some years, they've littered the sky with streaks of light.

 On June 27, 1998, as many as 100 meteors per hour fell over the course of the seven-hour event. According to Spaceweather, similar outbursts occurred in 1916, 1921, and 1927. Could 2023 join that historic group? To give the Bootids a shot, look towards the constellation Bootes, which lies to the left of the Little Dipper.