Lunar occultation of Venus June 2026: All you need to know

Lunar occultation of Venus in June 2026

When it occurs: A lunar occultation of Venus will occur on June 17, 2026, when an 11% illuminated waxing crescent moon passes in front of Venus. As a result, Venus will disappear behind the dark lunar limb and reappear to the right of the bright lunar crescent about an hour later.

Visibility: The occultation will be visible in daylight from the contiguous United States, southern Canada, northern Mexico, and the Caribbean, and in the evening from northeastern South America.

For observers outside the occultation path, a close conjunction of the moon and Venus will be visible on the evening of June 17, 2026.

The exact timing of the occultation depends on your location. Here are the disappearance and reappearance times for selected cities. A complete list of cities where the occultation will be visible is available here. The times listed in the link are given in Universal Time and will need to be converted to your local time.

How to see: The event will be challenging to observe with the naked eye because it occurs in broad daylight.

You can use a pair of binoculars or a telescope to closely monitor the event. Find the crescent moon first and look to its left for a white dot shining against the blue sky before the occultation begins. Through a telescope, the moon will take about 30 seconds to cover the 74% illuminated waning gibbous Venus.

During the occultation, the moon and Venus will lie about 38° from the sun, so you should be extra cautious when pointing your optics toward them. Never point your optics toward the sun unless you are using a proper solar filter. Looking at or near the sun without a proper solar filter can cause permanent eye damage.

Lunar occultation of Venus in 2026

Here are the dates of lunar occultations of Venus in 2026:

Please bookmark Spaceandtelescope.com or follow us on Facebook and Twitter to get latest space news, upcoming skywatching events and astronomy-related content.