@narnian78, I agree that small telescopes can be really handy for observing objects like the Moon and planets. I'd also recommend binoculars as they have the advantage of portability.

Things have been rather quiet in the skies of late, though auroras were reported as far south as New Mexico (latitude 36.6N) last night. None were seen here, due at least in part to incredibly hazy skies from huge wildfires in Manitoba.

The sky is a milky gray by day and even by night. The past few nights I've only been able to see the Moon, and it was greatly dimmed and a deep orange or red color. Quite pretty and a bit eerie. Last week I was able to see the Chinese Tiangong space station a few times, but even it couldn't compete with the haze last night (it is smaller and fainter than the ISS, and lower in the sky from my latitude, all factors in making it harder to see in this haze).

The sunsets have been spectacular, and the haze has held down our temperatures a little (though 90F/32C is expected today; it was estimated it would be up to 5F warmer without the haze)

It is wonderful looking at the night sky through a telescope! Our youngest son, still very interested in astronomy, began his enjoyment of the night sky at a fairly young age. He then saved up money he earned for a fairly simple, but effective, telescope—a refractor—which he still has to this day. For his birthday, we supplemented the difference, and I took him to purchase it after a fair bit of research on his part.

We have had many nights over the years of excellent viewing. Saturn and its rings, in particular, stands out; as does the main four moons of Jupiter; seeing a comet magnified; the Orion Nebula; the Moon, at any stage, but in particular full. There hardly are words for the thrill of these sights. I hasten to add, however, that having effused on sighting astronomical wonders through a telescope, for me the greatest of treats is to look up at the vast night sky with the naked eye.

And I, too, recommend a good pair of binoculars, as one can easily carry them along, and they do 'the job' of very suitable magnification.

This time of year, when I head out for my walks around 5:30 am local time, the only viewable sky object is Venus, and even it is quickly fading with the sun rising around 5:45 these days. (The longest day is soon coming the end of next week!) But if the sky is clear, I can spot Venus up to a half hour after the sun has risen, although towards the end of that time this can become a bit tricky.  But always rewarding.  

@jo, your post makes me want to observe! Alas, opportunities this month have been limited either due to clouds and rain, or wildfire smoke.

Mars, at magnitude 1.4 a mere shadow of its brighter self just a few months ago, is passing near the similarly bright star Regulus in Leo the Lion. They are within 2 degrees of each other from June 13 to 20, with Mars passing less than a degree north (above, or upper right, as seen from the Northern Hemisphere) of the star on June 16-17.

I don’t know if anyone else here subscribes to Star Date magazine.  It is quite a nice magazine to find out what is happening in the night sky. The magazine is bimonthly and is published by the McDonald Observatory.  I have been getting it for a couple of years now, and I think it is about as enjoyable as Astronomy. I recommend it highly if you are a night sky watcher. 🙂

I'm not much of a star watcher, but as today marks the Maori New Year, I'll put my head into this observatory! New Zealand has had a public holiday on this day for the last few years. 

The Pleiades appear on the Southern sky at this time of the year. Maori tradition has names and attributes for them. Pacific people used the stars for navigation as well as times of year. 

I'm not Maori, and I don't follow their traditional spirituality. But I'm re-reading The Game, a creative story by Diana Wynne Jones, where all the characters are linked to classical stars/gods.