Venus and the Moon lie 5° apart in the predawn sky, offering a lovely naked-eye spectacle for early risers.
The predawn sky is chock-full of sights to see in late June. Note that Neptune and Uranus require binoculars or a telescope to spot. Credit: Astronomy: Roen Kelly
The Moon passes 7° north of Venus at 5 A.M. EDT. An hour before sunrise the pair is easy to see in the east, nearly 20° high in the constellation Aries.
Venus is the brightest point of light in the sky, shining at magnitude –4.2. To its upper left is the delicate crescent Moon, some 26 days old and 13 percent lit. As New Moon occurs later this week, the Moon is now waning, with only its westernmost limb lit. Through binoculars or a telescope, you may still catch the round, dark, flat crater floor of Grimaldi in sunlight near the terminator separating night from day.
Use your telescope to observe Venus and you’ll see it is 60 percent lit and a hefty 19” across. On the first of this month, it was 50 percent lit — did you view it then, and can you see the difference now?
Aries doesn’t offer much in the way of bright stars, but you might still spot its brightest two: Hamal and Sheratan, standing about 16° above Venus in the early-morning sky. Hamal is also cataloged as Alpha Arietis and shines at magnitude 2.0. Sheratan (Beta [β] Ari) lies to Hamal’s right (southwest) and is slightly fainter, at magnitude 2.6.
Sunrise: 5:32 A.M.
Sunset: 8:32 P.M.
Moonrise: 2:39 A.M.
Moonset: 5:58 P.M.
Moon Phase: Waning crescent (11%)
*Times for sunrise, sunset, moonrise, and moonset are given in local time from 40° N 90° W. The Moon’s illumination is given at 12 P.M. local time from the same location.
For a look ahead at more upcoming sky events, check out our full Sky This Week column.
