So when you do find the time, you’ll need to know what’s visible in the night sky tonight, and the best things to look out for when stargazing.<\/p>
Complete newcomer? Read our guides to the best telescopes for beginners<\/a> and astronomy for beginners<\/a>.<\/strong><\/em><\/p> Here’s our stargazing guide to what you can see in the night sky tonight.<\/p> Our guide is centred around what’s visible from the UK, but all northern hemisphere observers should be able to use it, with the odd adjustment to stated times.<\/p> In our guide, we use Universal Time (UT) and British Summer Time (BST). UT is the standard time used by astronomers around the world. BST is one hour ahead of UT<\/p> We also use RA (Right ascension)and dec. (declination).<\/p> These coordinates are the night sky\u2019s equivalent of longitude and latitude, describing where an object is on the celestial \u2018globe\u2019.<\/p> For help with these, read our guide to celestial coordinates<\/a>.<\/p> For more advice, read our guide on how to stargaze<\/a> or sign up to receive the BBC Sky at Night Magazine e-newsletter<\/a> for weekly tips delivered directly to your email inbox.<\/strong><\/em><\/p> If you’re south of the equator, find out what you can see in the Southern Hemisphere night sky tonight<\/a>.<\/em><\/strong><\/p> The Northern Hemisphere\u2019s summer solstice<\/strong> occurs at 21:50 BST (20:50 UT) on 20 June 2024, a time when the Sun reaches its most northerly point against the stars.<\/p> From the UK, you probably don\u2019t need reminding that this also means a very limited night sky.<\/p> Despite this, there\u2019s still plenty to look out for, and some things which can\u2019t be seen will bring excitement too.<\/p> An example is Venus, which reaches superior conjunction on 4 June.<\/p> Having languished in a poor position in the morning sky during the first part of 2024, after superior conjunction, Venus<\/strong> moves to the evening sky.<\/p> Its position won\u2019t improve much until the latter part of 2024 though.<\/p> Mars<\/strong> and Jupiter<\/strong> are improving in the morning sky, as is Saturn<\/strong>, although the latter needs a little more time before reaching its best.\u00a0<\/p> Comet C\/2023 A3 Tsuchinshan-ATLAS<\/a><\/strong> is now well within small telescope reach, expected to reach mag. +9.0 at the end of the month.<\/p> Passing from Virgo into Leo, unfortunately the lack of true darkness won\u2019t do it any favours.<\/p> You can find out more in our guide on how to locate Comet C\/2023 A3<\/a>.<\/p> There\u2019s an interesting conjunction between Jupiter and Mercury<\/strong> on 4 June.<\/p> Shining at mag. \u20131.8, Jupiter may be seen just before sunrise above a flat northeast horizon.<\/p> Mercury will be bright too, shining at mag. \u20131.1 on this date, located 33 arcminutes southwest of Jupiter.<\/p> This will be tricky to see but, as Mercury is so bright, if you have the means to find and view it during the day, this will allow you to see the closest part of this conjunction.<\/p> Both planets are slightly shy of 7 arcminutes apart at 11:20 BST.<\/p> Care must be taken though, as they will be just 12\u00b0 to the west-southwest of the Sun at this time.\u00a0<\/p> If you can catch the 73%-lit waxing gibbous Moon in daylight on 16 June, there are a couple of interesting things to look out for here too.<\/p> At 18:00 BST the Moon sits 13\u00b0 above the southeast horizon.<\/p> Binoculars or a small telescope should show the arc of the illuminated peaks of the Jura Mountains<\/strong> extending into the lunar night, a clair-obscur effect known as the Jewelled Handle<\/strong>.<\/p> If you can see the Moon around 19:00 BST look for a tiny bright speck roughly one-third the apparent diameter of the Moon below the Moon\u2019s disc.<\/p> If you can see it this, is Spica<\/strong> (Alpha (\u03b1) Virginis); a star visible in daylight.<\/p> The brief period of semi-darkness around the solstice hides all but the brightest stars at this time of year.<\/p> Most prominent are the three bright stars which form the giant asterism known as the Summer Triangle<\/a><\/strong>; Deneb<\/a> (Alpha (\u03b1) Cygni), Vega<\/a> (Alpha Lyrae) and Altair<\/a> (Alpha Aquilae).<\/p> Vega is the brightest star visible nearly overhead as darkness falls.<\/p> The summer Milky Way passes down through the Summer Triangle, but this is better seen in the months following June.\u00a0<\/p> June represents the first major period to look out for noctilucent clouds<\/a><\/strong> (NLCs).<\/p> These high-altitude ice-sheet clouds are formed when super-cooled water vapour freezes around the tiny particles left behind when a meteor vaporises in our atmosphere.<\/p> If visible, NLCs are typically seen 90-120 minutes after sunset low above the northwest horizon, or a similar time low above the northeast horizon before sunrise.<\/p> Big displays may persist all night long, typically starting low in the northwest, moving through north and ending low above the northeast horizon.\u00a0<\/p> A 14%-lit waning crescent Moon sits 3.3\u00b0 northeast of Mars this morning, both visible together low in the east shortly after rising, around 03:30 BST (02:30 UT).<\/p> For more info, read our guide to observing Mars in June 2024<\/a>.<\/p> Jupiter and Mercury appear 31 arcminutes apart this morning, their closest approach occurring at 11:20 BST (10:20 UT) when they will be less than 7 arcminutes apart under daylight conditions, 12\u00b0 from the Sun.<\/p> A slender 2%-lit waning crescent Moon sits 6\u00b0 west-northwest of Jupiter this morning.<\/p> Can you spot a slender 2%-lit waxing crescent Moon shortly after sunset, low above the northwest horizon?\u00a0<\/p> This evening and tomorrow evening, the Moon\u2019s libration<\/a> favours a view of the tricky crater Humboldt.<\/p> Potentially visible to the naked eye this autumn, comet C\/2023 A3 Tsuchinshan\u2013ATLAS is brightening but will be lost from view this month. It passes the mag. +9.0 threshold today, located 2.2\u00b0 west-northwest of Zavijava (Beta (\u03b2) Virginis).<\/p> Today, a daylight observation of the Moon will reveal a small set of lights in the crater Aristillus around 17:00 BST (16:00 UT). This is the clair-obscur effect known as the Stars of Aristillus.\u00a0<\/p> An optically assisted view of the late-afternoon Moon in daylight will reveal the Jewelled Handle clair-obscur effect, formed by the illuminated arc of Montes Jura extending into the lunar night.\u00a0<\/p> At 19:00 BST (18:00 UT) under daylight conditions, the star Spica lies 25 arcminutes south-southwest of the 73%-lit waxing gibbous Moon.<\/p> The UK experiences its earliest sunrise of the year.\u00a0<\/p> The Sun reaches its most northerly point against the background stars at 21:51 BST (20:51 UT), a point in time known as the Northern Hemisphere\u2019s summer solstice (the winter solstice in the Southern Hemisphere). \u00a0<\/p> The tricky-to-observe crater Einstein may currently be seen close to the Moon\u2019s western limb. Conditions also favour a view of Mare Orientale<\/a>, close to the Moon\u2019s southwest limb.<\/p> This morning and tomorrow morning, the waning gibbous Moon appears close to mag. +0.7 Saturn.<\/p> There are a number of lunar clair-obscur effects visible today: the Cutlass at 02:00 BST (01:00 UT), Curtiss\u2019s Cross at 07:00 BST (06:00 UT) and the Star-Tip Mountain at 11:00 BST (10:00 UT).\u00a0<\/p> Now is a good time to hunt down dwarf planet Ceres which is due to reach opposition on 5 July. Shining at mag. +7.3, it currently lies immediately southeast of the \u2018handle\u2019 of the Teapot asterism in Sagittarius.<\/p>What’s in the night sky tonight?<\/strong><\/h2>
June astronomy highlights<\/strong><\/h3>
Planets and comets<\/strong><\/h3>
![\"Chart](\"https:\/\/c02.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/48\/2024\/05\/mars-saturn-moon-june-2024-1024x693.jpg?fit=800%2C541\")
![\"Chart](\"https:\/\/c02.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/48\/2024\/05\/Comet-A3-june-2024-1024x816.jpg?fit=800%2C638\")
![\"Clair](\"https:\/\/c02.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/48\/2020\/09\/Clair-obscur-effect-jewelled-handle-fea40fb-e1656578899449.jpg\")
Shadows on the Moon<\/strong><\/h3>
![\"Moon,](\"https:\/\/c02.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/48\/2021\/01\/03.JamesCoard_MoonVenusSpica-60a4b02.jpg\")
Summer Triangle<\/strong><\/h3>
![\"Deneb](\"https:\/\/c02.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/48\/2022\/05\/deneb-summer-triangle-chart-01a28e8.jpg\")
Noctilucent clouds<\/strong><\/h3>
![\"Noctilucent](\"https:\/\/c02.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/48\/2021\/07\/Noctilucent-Clouds-2021-49a37a3.jpg\")
Night sky in June 2024, night-by-night<\/strong><\/h2>
Monday 3 June<\/strong><\/h3>
Tuesday 4 June<\/strong><\/h3>
Wednesday 5 June<\/strong><\/h3>
Friday 7 June<\/strong><\/h3>
Saturday 8 June<\/strong><\/h3>
Tuesday 11 June<\/strong><\/h3>
![\"Comet](\"https:\/\/c02.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/48\/2024\/05\/Comet-A3-locate-social-1024x538.jpg?fit=800%2C420\")
Friday 14 June<\/strong><\/h3>
Sunday 16 June<\/strong><\/h3>
Monday 17 June<\/strong><\/h3>
Thursday 20 June<\/strong><\/h3>
Saturday 22 June<\/strong><\/h3>
![\"Favourable](\"https:\/\/c02.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/48\/2023\/12\/mare-orientale-social-1024x683.jpg?fit=800%2C534\")
Thursday 27 June<\/strong><\/h3>
Saturday 29 June<\/strong><\/h3>
Sunday 30 June<\/strong><\/h3>