On June 14, 15 and 16, 2018, the young moon swings by 2 planets - brilliant Venus and fainter Mercury - in the west after sunset. How to spot 'em, here.
These 2 worlds - Saturn and Mars - will shine brightly and beautifully in our sky over the coming months. Let the moon guide you to them in the next few mornings.
The moon is past full on May 30 and 31. You'll find it ascending in the east several hours after sunset. Saturn - now nearly at its best for 2018 - is the nearest bright object.
In 2018, we have 3 full moons between the March equinox and June solstice. Exactly 12 full moons from now - in May 2019 - we'll be enjoying the 3rd of 4 full moons of this season. People will call it a Blue Moon.
Starting tonight and for the next several days, notice the moon's orbital motion as it sweeps by the star Regulus, the Heart of the Lion in the constellation Leo.
Best morning apparition of Mercury for 2018 in the Southern Hemisphere ... worst in the Northern Hemisphere. For the whole Earth, the moon will sweep past Mercury before sunrise.
Bruce McClure served as lead writer for EarthSky's popular Tonight pages from 2004 to 2021, when he opted for a much-deserved retirement. He's a sundial aficionado, whose love for the heavens has taken him to Lake Titicaca in Bolivia and sailing in the North Atlantic, where he earned his celestial navigation certificate through the School of Ocean Sailing and Navigation. He also wrote and hosted public astronomy programs and planetarium programs in and around his home in upstate New York.