Stargazing Challenges - June 2025

Challenge 1 - The Plough

Throughout June, can you find the Plough asterism?

Wait until the sky darkens after sunset and look towards the north-west around 23:00 to spot the Plough asterism during June. It's made up of seven bright stars visible to the naked eye, but if you look carefully it's eight in total (the second star from the 'handle end' - Mizar, is actually a double star)!

The Plough makes up a small part of the constellation of Ursa Major which is often depicted as a great bear in the sky, with the Plough making up the back and tail of the beast. The Plough, which looks like a saucepan, can be seen all year round from the UK, though its orientation changes depending on the time of viewing and time of year. It's highest in the sky during the spring and lower on the horizon in the autumn.

Dubhe and Merak, the two stars making up the outer part of the bowl of the saucepan, are known together as the pointer stars. They helpfully aid us in finding Polaris, the pole star. Imagine a line connecting Merak to Dubhe and then extend that line about five times the distance between them to find the bright star Polaris. Because this star lies very close to the north celestial pole, it's the only star that doesn't appear to rotate around the sky as the Earth spins on its axis. And you can find the direction of North by drawing a line down from Polaris to the horizon.

Try looking out for the Plough throughout the month and even throughout the year to see how its location in the sky changes over time. And if you're out on 29 June, don't forget to look a little further to the west to find the waxing crescent Moon and red planet Mars close by too. They'll appear closer to the horizon so try to find a clear view without tall buildings or trees.

Challenge 3 - Star trails

Are you able to capture some star trails on 30 June?

This challenge is a bit of a step up, but as you get to the end of the month and become more expert in spotting the Plough asterism - you could try photographing some star trails. On 30 June, head out to a place with minimal light pollution as the sky darkens around 23:00, and look towards the northwest. Though if you're feeling confident you don't need to wait until the end of June.

Because the Earth spins on its axis, all the stars appear to move across the sky from east to west throughout the night, just as the Sun does during the day. So when we record the motion of the stars over some time, we get star trails. In Challenge 1, we shared how you can use the Plough to find the star Polaris which sits at the centre of star trails captured from the UK - this is because it lies almost right above the north pole of the Earth's axis of rotation.

To give it a go, set up your camera on a stable tripod to prevent any blurry images and focus your camera on Polaris, the North star. Then take a series of short exposure images at set intervals - for instance taking an image with the shutter open for 30 seconds (exposure) and setting the time between each shot to 3 seconds (interval). You want to shoot for at least an hour, but the more you do, the longer your trails trails will be.

Once you have all your images, you'll need to stack them using a program like Sequator, StarStaX or Startrails, which are free. These apps align and layer your images one on top of the other, and then combine the bright parts of each layer (i.e. the star light) to create a composite image. This allows the movement of the stars to be highlighted - producing your star trail image!

How did you get on? Were you able to spot our stargazing highlights this month?