Summer nights may be short, but there’s no better time to stargaze. The warm weather makes for the best conditions to sit on a comfy blanket or lawn chair and spend a night with the whole family just looking…up.
While anyone anywhere can take in the cosmos, it’s usually best to find a darker location for maximum clarity, preferably away from the lights of a bigger city. Likewise, you’ll want to give your eyes roughly 20-30 minutes to adjust to the darkness - that means trying not to look at bright screens for a bit.
Summer solstice
Summer officially kicks off on June 21 at 4:36 a.m. ET., when the sun is at its northernmost point on the Earth’s axis rotation. With the Northern Hemisphere at its most tilted toward the sun, this gives us the most daylight for the whole year. From here on out, the nights will gradually get longer, giving you more chances to get out and gaze up at the stars in decently comfortable temperatures.
Fun fact: the word solstice is derived from the Latin sol (sun) and sistere (to stand still).
Meteor showers
While there will be three notable meteor showers to check out with the family this summer, it’s the Perseids shower that should have you marking your calendar.
The best times to view this will be the mornings of August 12 and 13, just before dawn, when the shower typically strengthens in numbers. Since a new moon falls on August 12 this year, there will be especially dark skies for viewing Perseids. With the right conditions, some stargazers have reported seeing 90 meteors per hour for this shower!
The Southern Delta Aquariids meteor shower will peak on July 30 around 6 a.m., with Alpha Capricornids peaking roughly six hours earlier. Both of these are usually easier to spot in the Southern Hemisphere, but there are still an expected 5-15 meteors per hour for those looking up in Canada.
Partial solar eclipse
It won’t be a match to the 2024 event, but there will be a partial solar eclipse visible in most of Canada during the day of August 12, right in between the peaks of the Perseids shower.
You can click here to see if you’re in the eclipse’s path, when you might see obstruction, and how obstructed the sun will be. Make sure to stay safe if you plan on checking it out!
Planet parades
While technically outside of the parameters of “summer”, as defined by the solstice, there will be a couple of planets you can spot bunched together “parading” across the night sky in June.
On June 7, Venus and Jupiter will appear side by side, despite being hundreds of millions of miles away from Earth and each other. In the early evenings of June 8 and 9, the two planets will switch places, creating the optical illusion of a double planet.
Shortly after sunset on June 16, Venus will appear above the crescent moon, and just below it, Jupiter and Mercury will be visible at the same time as well.
Full moons
You’ll be able to see a bright, round moon overhead near the end of every month this summer.
Did you know every full moon has a name associated with it? June 29 will bring the Strawberry Moon, July 29 the Buck Moon, and August 28 the Sturgeon Moon.
The Milky Way
Summertime is the best time to take in the Milky Way; the spiral galaxy that Earth calls home. In it, there are billions of stars, with just the smallest fraction of them visible to us.
As previously mentioned, darker areas away from cities are best for looking up at the Milky Way. Just make sure to find a nice clear night, closest to a new moon, and you should be in for a wide range of visual treats.
Star Constellations
When you’re looking up at the Milky Way, have an eye out for these collections of stars:
Cygnus the Swan:
Look for the three brightest stars in the sky, known as the Summer Triangle. The bright star in the lower left of the triangle is Deneb, which is the tail of the swan.
Scorpius:
In July or August, around 9 or 10 p.m., look to the south for a reddish-orange heart star. The “J” below that is the hook or tail or the scorpion.
Ursa Major aka the Big Dipper:
You can find it any time of the year, but the "ladle" will be upside down in the summer, with the handle pointing up or to the side. Look for four bright stars in a bowl and three attached as the handle high in the northern sky.
The International Space Station
Among the stars, planets, moons, and constellations, you may be able to spot the International Space Station travelling quickly across the sky as well. It’ll appear as a bright, steady white light, typically bigger than any other star, and heading from west to east.
The best time to see the station is usually a few hours before sunrise or after sunset. It will more often than not be visible for one to six minutes, but you can visit the Heavens Above ISS tracker to find its accurate location and when exactly it will be visible near you.
What exactly are you seeing when you look up?
As you’re taking in the night sky this summer, you may find yourself asking that question. You can learn about the science around what’s happening above us, as well as distant objects like black holes, exoplanets, and even the expanding universe through space and astronomy resources from Perimeter Institute.
About PI
Perimeter Institute is the world’s largest research hub devoted to theoretical physics. The independent Institute was founded in 1999 to foster breakthroughs in the fundamental understanding of our universe, from the smallest particles to the entire cosmos. Research at Perimeter is motivated by the understanding that fundamental science advances human knowledge and catalyzes innovation, and that today’s theoretical physics is tomorrow’s technology. Located in the Region of Waterloo, the not-for-profit Institute is a unique public-private endeavour, including the Governments of Ontario and Canada, that enables cutting-edge research, trains the next generation of scientific pioneers, and shares the power of physics through award-winning educational outreach and public engagement.
