June 21, 2026

The June–July 2026 Dark Sky Calendar

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Prepared with information from ABDNHA's Dark Sky resources, Michael Poirier, Astrophotographer, and the Sky Calendar from Michigan State University.


Learn more about Borrego Springs dark skies at:
https://abdnha.org/darksky/sky/


Note: You can subscribe to the Sky Calendar from Abrams Planetarium, Michigan State University, 755 Science Rd, East Lansing, MI 48824.


Borrego Springs offers some of the darkest skies in Southern California, making summer an excellent time to observe the Milky Way, planets, meteor showers, and other celestial events.


Here's what to look for in June and July 2026.


Early June

Sunrise: 5:38 a.m.
Sunset: 7:50 p.m. PST
Day Length: 14 hours 12 minutes


June Highlights

June 1 (Monday)
Venus and Jupiter appear within 8° of each other in the west-northwestern sky after sunset.


June 3–16
Milky Way viewing conditions are excellent, with dark, moonless skies after nightfall. The Milky Way rises at 10:57 p.m. on June 7 and as early as 10:30 p.m. on June 14. It remains visible for up to 4 hours and 29 minutes.


June 6–13
Grand Canyon Star Party, Arizona. Learn more at www.grandcanyon.org.


June 11 (Thursday)
Venus, Jupiter, and Mercury span their shortest angle in the evening sky, just 13.2° apart.


June 15 (Monday)
New Moon — one of the darkest nights of the month for stargazing and astrophotography.


June 15 (Monday)
Mercury reaches greatest elongation, 24.5° from the Sun, making it the best evening appearance of the year shortly after sunset.


June 21 (Sunday)
June Solstice marks the beginning of summer in the Northern Hemisphere. It is the longest day of the year with 14 hours and 20 minutes of daylight.


June 22–July 2
June Bootids Meteor Shower.


June 29 (Monday)
Full Moon rises at 8:17 p.m. and sets at 5:04 a.m.


June 30 (Tuesday)
Asteroid Day.


Early July

Sunrise: 5:41 a.m.
Sunset: 7:59 p.m.
Day Length: 14 hours 18 minutes


July Highlights

July 5 (Sunday)
The Milky Way rises at 9:38 p.m. and remains visible for 3 hours and 58 minutes.


July 12 (Sunday)
The Milky Way rises at 9:34 p.m. and remains visible for 3 hours and 35 minutes.


July 14 (Tuesday)
New Moon — ideal conditions for stargazing and astrophotography.


July 15 (Wednesday)
Mercury reaches greatest elongation, 24.5° from the Sun.


July 28–29 (Tuesday–Wednesday)
Delta Aquariids Meteor Shower peaks.


July 29 (Wednesday)
Full Moon rises at 8:17 p.m. and sets at 5:04 a.m.


The Planets and the Milky Way in June


Evening Planets


Venus and Jupiter dominate the western sky after sunset throughout June. Around June 8–9, the two planets appear in conjunction, creating a striking close encounter in the west-northwestern sky.


Venus, often called the "Evening Star," shines brilliantly as it moves from Taurus toward Gemini and climbs higher in the evening sky each night. Jupiter remains nearby and is also easily visible.


Mercury becomes visible low in the western sky during the second half of June. June 15 offers the best viewing opportunity, as Mercury reaches its greatest elongation and highest apparent position above the horizon.


Morning Planets


Saturn and Mars are visible before sunrise. Mars remains low in the east-northeast, while Saturn rises higher from the east to east-southeast. Early June provides a chance to see the two planets relatively close together.


Summer Milky Way


Summer is the prime season for viewing the bright central core of the Milky Way. From June through August, the galaxy's core rises in the southeastern sky and becomes one of the most spectacular sights available to dark-sky observers.


June Bootids Meteor Shower


The June Bootids occur annually from June 22 through July 2 and peak around June 27.

Most years produce only one or two meteors per hour. However, this shower has occasionally surprised observers with dramatic outbursts. In 1998, rates briefly reached approximately 100 meteors per hour.

The shower originates from debris left by Comet Pons-Winnecke, which orbits the Sun every 6.3 years. June Bootids are known for their unusually slow speed, entering Earth's atmosphere at approximately 14 kilometers per second.


Asteroid Day – June 30

Asteroid Day is a United Nations-sanctioned global awareness campaign held annually on June 30. The event educates the public about asteroid impacts, planetary defense, and ongoing research into near-Earth objects.

The date commemorates the Tunguska Event of June 30, 1908, when a massive airburst explosion flattened approximately 830 square miles of Siberian forest. The blast is estimated to have released energy equivalent to between 3 and 50 megatons of TNT, making it the largest recorded impact event in modern history.

For more information, visit www.un.org.


Delta Aquariids Meteor Shower


The Delta Aquariids meteor shower peaks on the night of July 28 and the morning of July 29. This annual shower can produce up to 20 meteors per hour under ideal conditions and is associated with debris from Comets Marsden and Kracht.


The shower runs from July 12 through August 23 each year. Unfortunately, the 2026 peak coincides with a Full Moon, which will wash out many fainter meteors. Patient observers may still catch some of the brighter meteors throughout the night.


The meteors appear to radiate from the constellation Aquarius but can be seen anywhere in the sky.


Learn More About Borrego Springs' Dark Skies


Borrego Springs is California's first International Dark Sky Community and one of the best places in Southern California to experience the Milky Way, meteor showers, planets, and other celestial events.


To learn where to observe, dark sky etiquette, upcoming programs, and more about stargazing in Borrego Springs, visit the Anza-Borrego Desert Natural History Association's Dark Sky resources:

https://abdnha.org/darksky/sky/




Learn More About Borrego Springs

A Celestial Mother Lode | Week of Aug. 2-8, 2026

By Dennis Mammana • July 29, 2026
By Dennis Mammana Week of Aug 2-8, 2026  One of the most profound experiences a stargazer can have is to stand under the Milky Way on a clear August night far from city lights and see the wispy bunches of stars so tightly packed that they appear to the eye as a hazy band of light punctuated not only by bright individual stars but by tiny regions that appear as hazy clumps. Aim binoculars or a small telescope toward these "faint fuzzies," as astronomers affectionately call them, and you'll walk the same celestial path as Charles Messier did two and a half centuries ago. Messier was an 18th-century French astronomer who scanned the heavens in search of new comets, hoping that such discoveries would lead him to fame and fortune. He knew that comets often first appear as faint and colorless smudges of light that drift slowly among the stars, so that's what he was seeking. Along the way, however, he encountered dozens of such smudges that did not move. What these were he didn't know and, quite frankly, he didn't care. They weren't comets, so to avoid wasting more of his time on them — and to prevent other comet hunters from being similarly fooled — he began to compile a list of all these false comets he encountered on his nightly watch. Visit Dennis Mammana at dennismammana.com. To read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website at www.creators.com .

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Mercury & Mars at Dawn

By Dennis Mammana • July 23, 2026
By Dennis Mammana Week of July 26 - Aug. 1, 2026 In a couple of weeks, I'll be telling you about the annual Perseid meteor shower. It should be a good one this year since moonlight won't reduce our view. Of course, if you've read my column regularly, you already know that stargazers will almost always see more meteors in the hours before dawn than during the evening, so that means we must rise early or stay awake all night. I know either can be quite a challenge for some, so this week I present to you an opportunity to practice getting up early and heading outdoors. Not for meteors — though you will almost certainly spot some early Perseids in the early morning sky — but to see two planets that haven't been visible during the evening hours for quite a while. During early dawn this week, early risers have the chance to see the only two planets of our solar system whose names begin with the letter M: Mars and Mercury. Before sunrise, look midway up in the eastern sky, and you'll spot a fairly bright reddish-orange light. Many people may think that's the Red Planet, but I assure you it's not. It's actually a star named Aldebaran, and it marks the fiery red eye of Taurus, the bull. Betelgeuse, in Orion, the hunter, also appears the same color. It's true that Mars also appears reddish-orange, but at this time, it appears 1.5 times fainter than Aldebaran and can be found to its lower left. Because it's so faint, you may have a tough time seeing its color easily, but aim binoculars or a small telescope in its direction and its ruddy hue will become quite apparent. Mars changes its distance from Earth, and therefore its brightness, quite dramatically over its orbit around the sun. It can go from about 35 million miles from us at its best oppositions; the next of these won't occur until September of 2035, when it will lie just 35.8 million miles from us. That will be a great time to view the planet with a small telescope, but right now, Mars lies nearly 186 million miles from us and appears quite small and faint. The other planet visible in the early morning hours this week is the elusive planet Mercury. I use the word elusive because this planet is the closest to the sun of all our solar system's worlds and, as such, never strays far from its glare. With its orbital motion combined with that of the Earth, Mercury flips from dusk to dawn about every three or four months, but it's always rather tough to spot. It's been said that the great 16th-century Polish astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus, who overturned the long-held notion that the Earth occupied the center of our planetary family, had never actually seen this world with his own eyes. Now I don't know if this is true, but it makes sense given what we know about weather conditions in Eastern Europe and how challenging Mercury is to spot. This week you can achieve something even the great Copernicus never could ... but you've got to get up pretty early to do it! Visit Dennis Mammana at dennismammana.com. To read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website at www.creators.com . 

The Great Summer Triangle | Week of July 19-25, 2026

By Dennis Mammana • July 18, 2026
By Dennis Mammana Week of July 19-25, 2026 We can spend our time under the stars trying to find constellation figures from mythological times, but we'll always have limited success. If we really want to see pictures among the stars, I'm afraid we need to create our own. You may remember from previous articles that constellations are simply areas of the sky, and do not resemble their namesakes. Corvus looks nothing like a crow. Trying to find a bear in Ursa Major? Fuhgetaboutit! And Scorpius, the scorpion ... well, OK, there will always be one exception. No, if you want to see pictures among the stars, you must invent your own. And that's where asterisms come in. An asterism is a group of stars that we connect in our imaginations to look like something. Some of the easiest of these to create are geometrical figures. If you ever took a geometry class, you may recall that a point is the simplest of these — a figure with no length, width or depth. In the sky, every star forms a point; connect any three of these, and you'll create a triangle. One in particular, though, is different. It's larger and brighter, and we can find it midway up in our eastern sky after dark. It's called the Summer Triangle. It's not a constellation but rather an asterism made of three stars from three separate constellations, but that doesn't mean that early storytellers overlooked this prominent star grouping. For example, an ancient Chinese love tale tells that the star Deneb represents a magpie bridge over the Milky Way, which allows the separated lovers Altair and Vega to be reunited on only one summer night each year.  The brightest of the stellar trio — and highest in the sky this week — is Vega, the most prominent star in the constellation of Lyra, the harp. It lies 150 trillion miles from us (about 25 lightyears); in other words, the light arriving tonight from Vega began its journey toward our eyes in 2001. The southeasternmost of the three stars is Altair, the brightest in the constellation of Aquila, the eagle. Its name comes from the Arabic Al Nasr al Tair, meaning in English "the flying eagle." Altair lies about 96 trillion miles (17 lightyears) from us. Not only is Altair one of the nearest stars, it's also one of the most rapidly spinning, completing one rotation in just 6.5 hours! Finally, farthest to the northeast lies Deneb, marking the tail of the great swan Cygnus, more easily recognized as the Northern Cross. It's not certain, but we think that Deneb could lie as far away as 2,600 lightyears from Earth. If it's truly that distant, this star could be one of the most brilliant in our entire galaxy, with a luminosity equivalent to 200,000 suns, and would generate more light in one day than our sun has produced since the days of Marco Polo at the end of the 13th century! With the overwhelmingly bright moonlight this week and next, the brightest stars are about all we'll be able to see, but you can still head outdoors to check out the brightest of the summer — the Summer Triangle. Visit Dennis Mammana at dennismammana.com. To read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website at www.creators.com . Learn More About Borrego Springs

Perseids Under Borrego’s Dark Skies: The Perfect Summer Getaway

By Andrea McKenna • July 13, 2026
Chase the Perseids in Borrego Springs: Summer’s Best Getaway Is Under the Stars If you've been waiting for a reason to visit Borrego Springs, t he Perseid meteor shower is a pretty great excuse. If you live nearby, consider this your reminder to book a staycation, get out of the house, and look up. Summer is one of the best values of the year. You'll find lower hotel rates, fewer crowds, and a slower pace , making it the perfect time to experience one of nature's most spectacular events. The Perseid meteor shower is active from July 17 through August 24 and is expected to peak the nights of August 12–13 . With little moonlight during the peak and Borrego Springs' internationally recognized dark skies, conditions are ideal for viewing. Under clear skies, you may see 50 to 100 meteors per hour , including brilliant fireballs that leave glowing trails across the sky. Borrego Springs is California's first International Dark Sky Community , making it one of the best places in Southern California to experience the Perseids. No telescope is needed. Just bring a chair or blanket, find a safe location away from lights, let your eyes adjust for about 30 minutes, and enjoy the show. The best viewing is generally after midnight through the hours before dawn, although meteors can appear throughout the night. During the day, take advantage of summer savings with a stay at La Casa del Zorro , a Stay & Play package at Rams Hill , or seasonal rates at The Palms at Indian Head . Sleep in, relax by the pool, enjoy lunch or dinner in one of Borrego's air-conditioned restaurants, and check BorregoEvents.com for local happenings. Browse the locally owned shops that remain open year-round, visit art galleries, enjoy some night photography, or take a stroll down Palm Canyon Drive and browse homes for sale in the windows of Coldwell Banker and other local real estate offices. Summer offers a quieter, more relaxed way to experience Borrego Springs. Whether you're planning a weekend getaway or just escaping for a night, there's no better time to discover why Borrego Springs is known for its dark skies, hospitality, and desert beauty. Come for the summer savings. Stay for the Perseids. Leave with memories—and maybe a few shooting stars.

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Finding the Celestial Serpent-Bearer

By Dennis Mammana • July 5, 2026
By Dennis Mammana Week of July 5-11, 2026 There's a constellation in our night sky right now that is somewhat unknown to stargazers. Despite being huge — it's the 11th-largest in all the heavens — it has no stars brighter than the North Star, so you won't find it easily without a pretty dark sky. Its name is Ophiuchus (oh-fee-YOU-kuhs), and if you'd like to find it this month, you'll need to get away from the city lights and gaze midway up in the southeast shortly after dark. Ophiuchus (the serpent-bearer) represents Aesculapiu, the ancient Greco-Roman god of medicine, healing and physicians, and its brightest star is named Rasalhague, which is Arabic for "Head of the Snake Charmer." Draped from one side of Ophiuchus to the other lies Serpens — the only two-part constellation in the heavens — with its head on one side (Serpens Caput) and its tail on the other (Serpens Cauda). I admit that it requires quite an imagination to find these star groupings, but once you do, you'll know them forever. In fact, you may even recognize this shape, especially if you've ever searched online for the name of a physician. Quite often, you'll find the image of two serpents wrapped around a vertical staff that appears topped by a round knob and is flanked by wings. It's known as the "caduceus," and since 1902, when the U.S. Army adopted it as the insignia of its Medical Corps, it has been the familiar emblem of the American medical profession. Many medical associations — including the World Health Organization — use what some consider to be the "correct" and traditional symbol of medicine: the staff of Asclepius, with a single serpent encircling a staff. Either way, people have long associated the serpent with medicine. Once you find its stars, you'll see that Ophiuchus lies along some of the thickest star clouds of the Milky Way. If you've managed to get yourself to a rural location with a non-light-polluted sky, you'll have little trouble finding the hazy band of the Milky Way passing near this constellation, along with the bright reddish-orange star Antares (the heart of Scorpius, the scorpion) just to its lower right. Be sure to take binoculars with you so you can scan this celestial region. Here you'll find countless "faint fuzzies" (as amateur astronomers affectionately call deep-sky objects). Many of these are star clusters — collections of dozens, hundreds or even thousands of stars held together by gravitation — and interstellar nebulae, where stars and planetary systems are constantly forming. Now, while you're gazing at the stars of Ophiuchus, here's a little tidbit to wrap your head around: This constellation is not one of the official signs of the zodiac, but it should be. Why, you ask? Because the sun spends three times as many days in front of the stars of Ophiuchus as it does in Scorpius. So why, then, is this constellation missing from the official zodiacal signs in horoscope tables? Your guess is as good as mine. Just remember, if you were born between Nov. 29 and Dec. 17, you're not a "Scorpio" or "Sagittarius," as you might have thought. You're actually an Ophiuchan! Make of that what you will... Visit Dennis Mammana at dennismammana.com. To read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website at www.creators.com . Learn More About Borrego Springs
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