June 21-22, 2025: Morning Star Venus and the crescent moon appear in the eastern sky before sunrise.
by Jeffrey L. Hunt
As the summer season opens in the northern hemisphere, Venus and the crescent moon appear together in the eastern sky before sunrise. The planet outshines all other starlike bodies in the night sky, though it shines at about 70% of its peak brightness from two months ago.
Step outside and look to the eastern sky. At mid-twilight, an hour before daybreak, the Morning Star is nearly 15° up in the east, the crescent moon is nearby.
Earthshine
Look for earthshine on the moon. This effect is sunlight that is reflected from Earth’s oceans, clouds, and land. The light softly lights up the lunar night.
Photograph earthshine with a tripod-mounted camera and exposures up to a few seconds. A camera phone can capture the scene, if held steadily.
Highlights
Here’s what to see:
- June 21: The crescent moon, 22% illuminated, is about 25° up in the east and almost 12° to Venus’ upper right. The lunar orb is 8.0° to Hamal’s lower right, Aries’ brightest star, while Venus is over 15° to the right of the Pleiades star cluster. Use a binocular to see the cluster. A wide Venus-Pleiades conjunction occurs on July 5th.
- June 22: The moon, 13% illuminated, is over 15° above the east-northeast horizon, 6.8° to the upper left of Venus and over 10° to the upper right of the Pleiades. This is the morning to photograph Venus and the lunar earthshine.
Look for Venus and the moon in the eastern sky during morning twilight.
As this is written during early June, news has crossed computer screens that Fred Espenak, a former NASA scientist who specialized in eclipses, has passed. Known as Mr. Eclipse, his charts have been occasionally placed in these articles. Likely everybody in the world has either seen his charts or stylized versions of them. While not a personal friend, his work has been important in understanding the visibility of eclipses. Thank you, Fred, for your work.
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