Wyoming Skies: June brings summer solstice and constellations in every direction

Yahoo

4 days ago

June 20, 2025, brings us the summer solstice. Supposedly, that means warmer weather has finally arrived in Wyoming. This month, if you go out after it gets dark, you will see some wonderful stars and constellations in every direction. If you face north you will see a 'W' above the northern horizon; those five stars are the constellation Cassiopeia. The Little Dipper, also known as Ursa Minor, is halfway above the northern horizon.
And almost overhead you can see the Big Dipper, the most well-known group of stars in Ursa Major. If you follow the arc of the handle of the Big Dipper you'll run into the brilliant star Arcturus. Arcturus marks the bottom of Boötes, a constellation that looks like a kite or ice cream cone. If you continue the arc from the handle of the Big Dipper, you'll hit another bright star, that is Spica in the constellation Virgo. And follow that curve to Corvus, a quadrilateral-shape group of stars.
Facing west you'll see the twin stars of Gemini, Pollux and Castor, above the horizon. They'll slip toward the horizon more each day. And higher in the sky, you can see the spring constellation of Leo. It's easily picked out by locating the Sickle, a group of stars that look like a backward question mark. The bright star at the bottom of the Sickle is Regulus.
If you look to the south, you can see two constellations very close to the horizon; Scorpius resembles a fishhook or the letter 'J,' and Sagittarius is obvious as a group of stars that resembles an old-fashioned teapot. And here's a fun fact, the spout of the Teapot it is pointing toward the center of our Milky Way galaxy.
Finally, when you face east you will see a definite sign that summer is here because the Summer Triangle shines brightly in the sky. The Summer Triangle is made up of these three bright stars: Vega in Lyra, Deneb in Cygnus, and Altair in Aquila.
Under dark skies, you'll see the Milky Way arching up from the northeast horizon, starting under Cassiopeia, passing overhead through Cygnus and Aquila, finally ending up in the south going through Sagittarius and Scorpius. What's cool about the Milky Way is that this glowing patch of stars, gas and dust is a spiral arm of our galaxy.
In order of brightness in the evening sky you will find: Mercury, Arcturus, Vega, Capella, Altair, Antares, Spica, Pollux, Deneb, Regulus and Mars.
Planets this month are split between the evening and morning sky. In the June evening sky, look for Mars as a steady red light slowly moving across the stars of Leo. Mars will be closest to the bright star Regulus on the evening of June 16. Jupiter has dominated the evening sky for months, but is challenging to spot in the bright western twilight and will slip away toward the beginning of the month. It's being replaced by Mercury emerging in the evening sky about 30-40 minutes after sunset. Mercury will reach its greatest distance from the sun on July 4.
Morning observers can catch brilliant Venus before dawn; it reached its greatest distance from the sun at the end of May. Golden Saturn is higher in the sky than Venus and will move away from Venus each day.
The moon is a great way to locate stars and planets. The moon is near Mars on the evening of June 1, and will float near Saturn on the mornings of June 18 and 19. Then it visits Venus on the mornings of June 21 and 22. Then it will move back to the evening sky, so the moon will float near Mercury on June 26 and will pay Mars another visit on the evening of June 29.
The full moon of June occurs overnight on June 10-11. It's the Full Strawberry Moon — named to coincide with the abundance of strawberries harvested this month — and will lie near the bright star Antares in Scorpius the Scorpion. The full moon will be visible all night.
A fun trio to look for on the evenings around June 24 is Mercury forming a line with Pollux and Castor in the evening twilight. Binoculars might help spot them.
There is a meteor shower this month that might be worth watching for before dawn on the morning of June 7. It's the daytime Arietids. They are the most active daytime meteor shower, but how can you watch for them in the daytime? Its radiant — or point where the meteors seem to originate — rises before the sun. So you might catch meteors shooting up from the horizon before dawn. How fun would that be to see?