“What’s Up?”, updated May 27, 2026
Starting January 2026, this section will feature a monthly summary of what is happening in the skies above us. It will be updated during the first days of each month to include celestial events for that particular month.
Late May/Early June
As darkness falls these evenings, Venus and Jupiter form a prominent pair in the west-northwestern sky. They are 11 degrees apart on May 29 and will get closer for the next one-and-one-half weeks. They will be closest together on June 9, separated by 1.6 degrees (or about 3 times the width of a Full Moon). Venus is the lower and brighter of the two, at magnitude -3.9, while Jupiter is some six times dimmer at -1.9. They become visible about 30-40 minutes after sunset. The backdrop of this is the Gemini Constellation, with its twin stars, Pollux and Castor, situated above and right of Jupiter. The three objects will slowly side down toward the western horizon (as does the entire backdrop of stars) as the weeks progress.
The Moon is also present in the evening sky as a waxing gibbous object passing through Virgo and Libra this week. On the evening of May 30, the Full Moon (exactly Full at 3:45 am Sunday morning, May 31) is situated about 2 or 3 degrees right of Antares. The Moon passes just south of the star later that night, but it occults (covers) it for observers in eastern Australia and southern South America.
By the end of the month of May, Venus has reached its greatest altitude above the western horizon for this current evening apparition. It had been near this altitude for most of May and will continue to be so for the next several weeks. Venus will remain the Evening Star until October, when it drops toward the horizon to make the transition to a morning object (even, for a brief span of time for certain locations, being both a morning and evening star) by the end of October.
Mercury is visible low in the west northwest at dusk but is a difficult object to see. Binoculars, a flat horizon, and clear skies are essential to see this. It slowly creeps higher in the sky going into June, being fairly easy to see below and right of the Venus/Jupiter pair on June 9.
The Spring Arch continues to be visible these evenings, slowly sinking as the weeks pass on. The twin stars Pollux and Castor mark the top of the arch, with Procyon the lower left and Capella the lower right ends of the arch respectively. These ends are now just above the horizon as it gets fully dark, and will fade from view soon after.
The constellation Scorpius comes up during the evening twilight. Scorpius is one of the traditional summer constellations that are starting to make their way into the evening sky. A famous asterism, the Summer Triangle, is also becoming visible in the mid-to late evening time frame. Vega, the highest and brightest of the three corners of the triangle, is the first to be seen low in the northeast as twilight fades. This is soon followed by fainter Deneb, some two hours later. Finally, Altair rises to complete the asterism by about 10 or 11 pm local time.
A large asterism known as the Spring Diamond is currently situated fairly high in the southeastern sky during the evening time frame. It includes Denebola, the east end of Leo (currently high in the southwest after nightfall), then down to Spica, fairly low in the southeast; then over to bright Arcturus, high in the east; then up to Cor Caroli, the brightest star of Canes Venatici, high in the north or near the zenith (depending on latitude).
The stars and constellations of Spring are well up in the sky throughout May. Bootes is marked by bright Arcturus, the fourth brightest nighttime star in Earth’s skies. The Big Dipper is high in the northeastern sky, transitioning to high overhead as the month progresses. The afore-mentioned Summer Triangle, which includes the constellations Lyra (that includes Vega), Cygnus (with Deneb) and Aquila (with Altair) is emerging into the evening sky.
Looking north, the Big Dipper is horizontal high in the sky at dusk and continues to rotate around the north celestial pole (marked by Polaris). On the opposite side is the “W” shaped constellation Cassiopeia, now low on (or even behind) the northern horizon. As the night progresses, the two rotate, with the Big Dipper angling vertical after midnight, and Cassiopeia being fairly high in the northeast by dawn.
Mid-June
Saturn and Mars have been gracing the predawn sky for about two months now. Saturn is easily seen fairly high toward the east-southeast at the start of dawn, but Mars remains elusive, staying quite low in the twilight in the east northeast. It can be spotted with binoculars if the sky is clear and the horizon is flat. The waning crescent Moon is a predawn object through June 13. It is situated between Aries and Mars about one hour before sunrise on June 12. Then on June 13, the very thin crescent Moon sits just to the right of the Pleiades star cluster in Taurus, which is making its reappearance after being hidden in the solar glare for the past two months.
The Moon is New exactly at 9:54 pm on the evening of June 14. The next day it is barely visible on the horizon in the west northwest, 45 minutes after sunset. It is easier to see an evening later as it forms a bent line with Jupiter and Mercury. By mid-June, Venus, Jupiter, and Mercury make a slightly bent, diagonal line fairly low in the west northwest. The stars Pollux and Castor are situated to the right of Jupiter. On the afternoon of June 17, the Moon occults Venus for all of the continental US and most of Canada. More information about this event, including predicted disappearance and reappearance times for many cities, are included at this website: http://www.lunar-occultations.com/iota/bstar/0617venus.htm.
That same evening (June 17) the Moon has pulled away from Venus, being 2.5 degrees apart by dusk. At this time, the Moon passes through the Beehive star cluster. Those in the eastern time zone of North America are favored to see the brightest stars of the cluster be covered by the dark limb of the Moon; those further west will get to see the fainter outlying stars be covered. In any case, the sight of the Moon among the Beehive star cluster members will be worth seeing through binoculars or a wide-field telescope.
The Moon continues to wax and move eastward, passing the bright star Regulus early on June 19 and trailing it by 6 degrees at dusk that evening. The pair then sink toward the western horizon as twilight fades.
The Summer Solstice (in the Northern Hemisphere) happens at 3:25 am CDT on June 21. This marks the beginning of astronomical summer and has the longest period of daylight of the year with the Sun situated as far north as it gets for the year. The Moon reaches First Quarter later that same day, at 4:55 pm CDT.
Late June
At dusk on June 23, the waxing gibbous Moon is found some 4.5 degrees to the lower left of Spica, the brightest star in the constellation Virgo. This area of the sky is fairly low in the south southeastern sky. Watch over the course of the night as the Moon slowly pulls further away from Spica. Two days later, on June 25, Jupiter and Mercury meet low on the west-northwestern horizon. This will require a flat horizon, a pair of binoculars, and clear skies to see Mercury 3.5 degrees to the lower right of Jupiter. Mercury is only 5 degrees high and glows rather faintly at 1.8 magnitude about 45 minutes after sunset. On the same evening, Jupiter forms a nearly straight line with Pollux and Castor.
The constellations of springtime are now found mainly in the western half of the celestial sphere by nightfall during late June. The constellations of summer are climbing higher in the skies with each passing evening. Leo has inclined toward the western horizon, and will eventually follow Gemini and Cancer into the sunset glow. Virgo, fairly low in the southwest, follows behind Leo. The Big Dipper is hanging down at a steep angle toward the northwestern horizon. Its curving handle curvedly points toward bright Antares, the brightest nighttime star in the June evening sky (and fourth brightest overall). The Summer Triangle ascends in the eastern sky.
The nearly full Moon, on June 27, is about 5.8 degrees from Antares, the brightest star in Scorpius. The former follow the latter across the sky for much of the night.
By the end of June, much of Taurus has returned to ground-based visibility, lying along the east-northeastern horizon one hour before sunrise. The Pleiades lead the way, with Mars easy to spot about 4 degrees below and right of the cluster.
Observations of Solar and Lunar Eclipses and Other Observations
Images of the March 14, 2025 total lunar eclipse can be viewed here.
We observed two solar eclipses less than six months apart. Check out images from these celestial events at this site.
We observed and imaged the total lunar eclipsed that occurred during the predawn hours of 8 November 2022. The images and report can be viewed at https://www.pvamu.edu/pvso/cosmic-corner/total-lunar-eclipse-2022-1-2/. Partial lunar eclipse began at 3:09 am CST, total eclipse started at 4:16 am CST, maximum eclipse (when the Moon should appear darkest) at 4:59 am CST, total eclipse ended at 5:42 am CST, and partial eclipse finished at 6:49 am. The subtle penumbral shading was detectable some 30 to 40 minutes before and after the partial stages.
On 15 May 2022, a Total Lunar Eclipse, with totality lasting nearly 85 minutes, was visible across North and South America (except the far northwest part of North America). Partial eclipse began at 9:28 pm CDT (May 15), totality began at 10:29 pm, mid eclipse was 11:12 pm, total eclipse ended at 11:54 pm and partial eclipse ended at 12:56 pm, CDT (May 16). We did observe the event and got pictures, check out this website for these.
Observations of the partial phase of the May 2021 lunar eclipse (taken with smartphone and a University telescope), along with unfiltered, stacked galaxy and cluster images, can be viewed from the project update website https://www.pvamu.edu/pvso/cosmic-corner/project-summary-2/.
Jupiter was hit by a meteor in 2021, see https://skyandtelescope.org/astronomy-news/jupiter-whacked-again-japanese-astronomers-record-possible-impact/, for more information on what is the 11th confirmed observation of a fireball to burn up in its atmosphere. There was another event documented on 28 August 2023. You can read all about it at this website.
The Perseverance rover continues to perform wonderful feats of science, from finding evidence of a raging river, to making 10 g of pure oxygen from the Martian air to watching a small drone helicopter take its 51st flight over the Martian wasteland. For more information on it and other activity on Mars, visit mars.jpl.nasa.gov. Also, Curiosity has returned some beautiful sunset pictures of cirrus-like clouds in the Martian sky.
Solar observations have resumed once again. One may view images during our Solar Cycle Observation Program (2020-2026) by visiting pvamu.edu/pvso.
The PVSO complex has 3 domes, including the existing “Classic” Solar Observatory, and two new domes. For updates on this progress check out https://www.pvamu.edu/pvso/cosmic-corner/project-summary-2/. Also, more information and images can be viewed at https://sites.google.com/view/saganti-astro/home. The two newer domes contain our Meade 16-inch advanced telescope (east dome, an Astrohaven clamshell-type dome) and a 0.6 meter (24-inch) PlaneWave Corrected Dall-Kirkham telescope (west dome, an Ash dome). The design features these two domes situated east and west of a visitor’s center, which is immediately north of the existing Solar Observatory.