Look to the east before sunrise on June 22 to catch the delicate form of the crescent moon shining with Venus alongside the Pleiades star cluster.
Stargazers in the U.S. can find the cosmic trio loitering above the eastern horizon in the hours preceding dawn on Sunday, June 22. Venus will be visible shining to the lower right of the sickle-like shape of the waning crescent moon, while the Pleiades open star cluster can be found less than 10 degrees (one fist’s width at arm’s length) to the lower left of the lunar disk.
The Pleiades will be the last of the three bodies to rise above the horizon at around 3.15 a.m. ET (0715 GMT) on June 22, and will be visible for a little over an hour before it becomes challenging to spot in the glare of the rising sun. As always the utmost care must be taken to never point telescopic equipment or binoculars close to the rising sun, as doing so can immediately and permanently damage your vision.
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The strange cosmic triangle is a perfect example of the astounding variety of objects that are visible to the naked eye from Earth. The moon, for example, is a relatively small, barren world scarred by craters and dark lunar seas born of brutal asteroid bombardments that occurred billions of years ago. As the moon progresses through the different phases of the lunar calendar, the sun’s light throws new impact sites, barren plains, and swathes of broken landscapes into relief as prime targets for amateur astronomers wielding binoculars and backyard telescopes.
Venus, meanwhile, is a rocky world that shares a similar size, mass and density with our planet, which has led to it being nicknamed ‘Earth’s twin’. However, telescopic and robotic observations are steadily unravelling the mystery of how the planet followed a radically different evolutionary path that saw a runaway greenhouse gas effect render it hostile to life as we know it. It is possible to observe the different phases of the Venutian disk – which are similar to the phases of the moon – using a telescope with a 60 mm aperture (or greater) with a minimum of 50x magnification, per telescope-maker Celestron.
The Pleiades star cluster (also known as Messier 45) is a different beast entirely — a gravitationally bound collection of over a thousand stars found within the Milky Way some 445 light-years from Earth in the Taurus constellation, according to NASA. The Pleiades are readily visible as a smudge of light to the naked eye under dark sky conditions, but a pair of 10×50 binoculars will help you witness their true nature, and distinguish individual stars. The view will become even more spectacular with the aid of a 6-inch telescope, revealing more of the dazzling blue-white stars.
Stargazers hoping to explore the wonders of the universe for themselves should check out our guide to the best telescopes and binoculars on offer in 2025. Photographers hoping to capture the next big astronomy event should also check out our roundup of the best cameras and lenses for astrophotography.
Editor’s Note: If you capture an image of the moon with Venus and the Pleiades and want to share it with Space.com’s readers, then please send your photo(s), comments, and your name and location to [email protected].
