The Sky Tonight: June 2025

June brings america into nan play of Makuru, a clip of colder upwind and rain. Fittingly, it is nan opening of winter. 

Winter is nan clip for watching nan Milky Way. The elephantine archway of stars is now precocious capable successful nan entity to make for fantabulous viewing successful nan early hours of nan evening.

Image: The Milky Way becomes salient during June evenings.
Credit: Stellarium.

If you tin get distant from ray pollution, past nan millions of stars making up our location postulation are a genuinely spectacular sight. Even if you’re confined to nan agleam suburbs, you should still beryllium capable to make retired a faint smudge of ray moving up from nan eastbound sky to nan zenith astatine nan apical of nan sky. 

The wintertime solstice occurs connected June 21. Astronomers thin to reference this solstice arsenic nan commencement of winter, aliases astronomical wintertime arsenic we telephone it. On this day, nan Sun reaches its lowest constituent successful nan sky, arsenic seen from Australia. Facing north, you tin make a intelligence statement of really precocious supra nan sky nan Sun is astatine midday. After this date, nan Sun will commencement getting higher successful nan entity and nan days get longer. The truth that nan Sun appears to region and alteration guidance successful nan entity gives nan solstice its name: ‘Sol’ = Sun, ‘stice’ = Stands Still. 

Image: The way of nan Sun done nan entity connected different important dates of nan year.
Credit: Smith/Scitech. 

It is good known that Stonehenge successful Wiltshire, England, is aligned towards nan guidance nan Sun rises connected nan time of nan solstice. It is besides good known that each transcript is inspired by an original masterpiece, and nan English ruin is modelled aft nan existent Stonehenge successful Esperance, Western Australia. (For subject reasons, this is sarcasm.)

Image: Stonehenge successful Esperance.
Credit: Smith/Scitech 

The Moon is wished to get adjacent to immoderate agleam stars this month. It passes little than a grade from Spica successful Virgo connected nan evening of June 6 and has a miniscule occultation of Antares successful Scorpius astatine 5:34pm connected June 10, lasting only 10 minutes. As nan Sun sets connected this day, nan Moon originates a glancing sideswipe of this unique agleam reddish star. 

International Asteroid Day happens connected June 30. You tin study much astir this here.  

ISS sightings from Perth 

The International Space Station passes overhead aggregate times a day. Most of these passes are excessively faint to spot but a mates of notable sightings* are: 

*Note: These predictions are only meticulous a fewer days successful advance. Check nan sources linked for much precise predictions connected nan time of your observations. 

Moon phases 

June 3: First Quarter 

June 11: Full Moon 

June 19: Last Quarter 

June 25: New Moon 

Dates of interest 

June 6: Moon adjacent Spica 

June 10: Lunar occultation of Antares 

June 17: Mars adjacent Regulus 

June 19: Moon adjacent Saturn 

June 21: Winter Solstice 

June 30: International Asteroid Day 

Planets to look for 

Mars is visible successful nan northwest during nan evenings and seems to bent successful nan aforesaid spot each month. In nan inheritance you tin spot that it is moving done Leo and connected June 17 has a adjacent attack pinch Regulus – nan brightest prima successful Leo – passing it by only 0.75 degrees, little than nan width of your thumbnail astatine arm’s length.  

Image: Mars and Regulus connected Jun 17 pinch Leo outline for reference.
Credit: Stellarium 

Mercury is mislaid successful nan glare of nan mounting Sun for first mates of weeks of June but tin past beryllium seen successful nan northwestern entity for astir an hr aft sunset successful nan 2nd half of nan month. 

Venus continues to predominate nan greeting sky, visible successful nan northeast earlier sunrise astatine a whopping –4.3 magnitude. Saturn is besides location earlier sunrise, albeit fainter and further to nan north. They are joined by nan waning Moon successful nan past week of nan month. 

Image: The eastbound entity earlier sunrise connected Jun 20.
Credit: Stellarium 

Constellation of nan month 

Lupus – The Wolf 

Lupus is simply a mean sized constellation successful nan confederate entity and lies somewhat disconnected nan level of nan Milky Way. Located betwixt Scorpius and Centaurus, nan shape of stars was historically seen arsenic an arbitrary animal slain by Centaurus, but these days is simply a constellation successful its ain correct and interpreted arsenic a wolf. 

Image: Lupus nan wolf, located betwixt Centaurus and Scorpius.
Credit: Stellarium 

The champion clip to spot Lupus successful June is successful nan second half of nan month, during nan early-to-mid evenings. Starting from nan pointers successful Centaurus, look to nan precocious near to nan spot nan 2 intimately spaced stars KeKouan and Ke Kwan. 

Image: Reference stars for Lupus
Credit: Stellarium

The logic for nan similarity of these names is because of their inclusion, on pinch respective adjacent stars, successful an ancient Chinese constellation called Qi Guãn, meaning ‘Imperial Guards’. Interestingly, KeKouan is portion of Lupus and Ke Kwan is portion of Centaurus arsenic nan 2 likewise named stars straddle nan bound betwixt nan 2 constellations. 

Lupus is location to nan visually striking supernova remnant SN1006.  

Image: SN1006.
Credit: NASA 

So named, because successful nan twelvemonth 1006 a caller “star” appeared successful nan entity sparkling astatine a staggering (estimated) brightness of –7.5, agleam capable to beryllium seen during nan day, and hung astir for a fewer months earlier fading. Astronomers person been capable to trace humanities observations of this entity to an exploding prima that erstwhile shone successful Lupus, nan remnants of which now dress up SN1006. As nan prima exploded it threw its outer layers disconnected into abstraction which still title distant from nan centre, creating nan beautiful image above.  

It is mostly accepted that SN1006 was a Type 1a supernova, a typical people of supernova that originates from a achromatic dwarf prima reaching captious wide and exploding. Because this captious wide is nan aforesaid for each achromatic dwarf star, Type 1a supernovas aways detonate pinch nan aforesaid magnitude of worldly and frankincense radiance pinch nan aforesaid brightness.

This allows astronomers to usage them arsenic reference objects to measurement distances successful nan beingness – nan brighter nan detonation looks, nan person it is, nan fainter nan detonation looks, nan further distant it is – a logical conclusion only imaginable if you are looking astatine things of nan aforesaid brightness. The usage of Type 1a supernovas to measurement distances yet led to nan find that nan expansion of nan beingness is speeding up. 

Object for nan mini telescope 

Moon – Antares Occultation 

As nan Moon rises successful nan eastbound connected nan evening of June 10 it will – concisely – walk successful beforehand of Antares, conscionable hardly grazing it edge-on successful an arena lasting astir 10 minutes. A beautiful show moreover without a telescope. 

Image: The Moon astir to walk successful beforehand of Antares astatine 5:34pm connected Jun 10. 
Credit: Stellarium