June 29, 2026: The Full Strawberry Moon shines all night while Mars passes Alcyone, the Pleiades’ brightest star, before sunrise. Find Saturn, Uranus, Venus, and Jupiter during this busy skywatching period.
by Jeffrey L. Hunt
Chicago, Illinois: Sunrise, 5:19 a.m. CDT; Sunset, 8:30 p.m. CDT. Times are calculated by the US Naval Observatory’s MICA computer program. Check local sources for sunrise and sunset times.
Venus as an Evening Star
Sky Watching Highlights
- Full Strawberry Moon
- Mars Passes Pleiades
- Venus Moves In Front of Leo
- Jupiter Fades Into Evening Twilight
Full Strawberry Moon
The moon reaches the Full phase at 6:57 p.m. Central Time before it rise across most of North America. This month’s bright seasonal moon is known as the Strawberry Moon. It rises in the southeast about 20 minutes after sunset in eastern regions and at a slightly larger interval farther westward. Like all the planets at opposition and the bright stars that rise at sunset, a Full moon appears in the south at local midnight, and sets the next morning in the western sky near sunrise. The moon’s westward arc tonight is similar to the sun’s winter path.
Take a nighttime walk under the Full moon. Its light spreads across the sky illuminating the ground and casting shadows.
Mars, Pleiades Conjunction
Before sunrise, Mars passes Alcyone, the Pleiades star cluster’s brightest star. The conjunction is fairly wide, 4.4°, but both fit into the same binocular field.
An hour before sunrise, Mars is nearly 15° above the east-northeast horizon. It is not as bright as expected, but is visible with a clear view of the horizon or through a binocular.
Uranus
Once Mars and the star cluster are found, shift the binocular slightly so that the Pleiades are at near the top of the field and Mars is toward the lower right. Look for the stars 37 and 39 Tauri (37 Tau, 39 Tau) to the lower left. Star 37 is about the same brightness as the dimmer stars in the cluster. Star 39 is about 25% the brightness of star 37 and nearly the same intensity as aquamarine Uranus, 1.4° to the lower right. The Tilted Planet is 3.2° to Mars’ lower left.
Saturn
Saturn is also in the eastern sky before sunrise. When looking for Mars, find golden Saturn in the east-southeast. It is brighter that the stars in the region.
Evening Venus, Jupiter
After sunset, brilliant Venus is in the western sky. At 45 minutes after sunset, the Evening Star is over 15° above the western horizon. Tonight, it crosses Cancer’s boundary and moves in front of Leo as it approaches Regulus for a conjunction on July 9. Venus passes Leo’s stars through July 31. Use a binocular to watch it pass the Lion’s dimmer stars.
While looking for Venus, Jupiter is low in the west-northwest, nearly 20° to the brilliant planet’s lower right. The Jovian Giant is slipping into brighter evening twilight. As the third brightest body in tonight’s sky, it can be seen near the horizon. Track Jupiter as it leaves the evening sky during the next several evenings.
With this celestial activity, look for the bright moon, Mars near Uranus, and Venus and Jupiter.
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