Main astronomical events of June 2023

The first month of summer is the least favorable for astronomical observations in Ukraine and in general in Northern Europe and America. On June 21, the day of the summer solstice, at the latitude of Kyiv, the solar disk even at midnight sinks below the horizon by less than 16°. This means that the evening astronomical twilight actually turns into the morning, and the “real” night does not begin. On the 48th parallel, it still comes on this day, but very briefly.

However, many celestial bodies can be observed at dusk. Firstly, this applies to the planets, of which Venus is now the best visible — on June 4, it will pass the maximum eastern elongation and move away from the Sun by 45.4°. Every evening, it will appear as the brightest star above the western horizon. On June 21, the crescent moon will be not far from it, and on the last day of the month it will approach 3.5° to Mars, but it will not “catch up” with it and in early July it will begin to move away from it.

Venus in the evening twilight. The author of the picture is Natalia Sukhina (Kyiv Club of astronomy enthusiasts “Astropolis”)

June 3

  • The Moon is 0.5° north of Antares (α Scorpio, 1.0ᵐ)

June 4

  • Venus is at its greatest eastern elongation (45.4°)
  • Full moon

June 6

  • The Moon is at perigee, 364860 km from the center of the Earth

June 10

  • The Moon is 4° south of Saturn (0.9ᵐ)
  • The Moon is in the last quarter phase

June 11

  • The Moon is 5° south of Neptune (7,9ᵐ)

June 14

  • The Moon is 1° north of Jupiter (-2.1ᵐ)

June 15

  • The Moon is 3° east of Uranus (5,8ᵐ)

June 17

  • The Moon is 4° north of Mercury (-0.8ᵐ)

June 18

  • New Moon

June 20

  • The Moon is 4° south of Pollux (β Gemini, 1,2ᵐ)

June 21

  • Summer Solstice
  • The Moon is 4° north of Venus (-4.4ᵐ)

June 22

  • The Moon is 3° north of Mars (1,7ᵐ)
  • The Moon is at apogee, 405385 km from the center of the Earth

June 23

  • The Moon is 4° north of Regulus (α Leo, 1,3ᵐ)

June 26

  • The Moon is in the phase of the first quarter

June 27

  • The Moon is 2° north of Spica (α Virgo, 1.0ᵐ)

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