• If you have a clear sky, level horizon and binoculars, you might see the whisker-thin waning crescent moon by the horizon before dawn on Monday, June 18. But it won't be easy. The new moon falls on Tuesday, June 19, 2012 - meaning the moon is now nearly on a line with the sun and Earth, and nearly buried in the sun's glare.
• Our chart shows the eastern sky as seen from mid-northern North American latitudes for around 30 to 40 minutes before sunrise on Monday.
• Everything you need to know: June solstice 2012
• Gallery: The solstice as seen from Stonehenge
• It'll be easier to catch the moon and

Venus below Jupiter at more southerly latitudes, and also at mid-northern latitudes in Europe and Asia. As seen from Asia, Indonesia and Australia, the moon and Venus pair up closely enough to take stage within a single binocular field.
• At mid-northern latitudes, Jupiter rises about one and one-half hours before the sun, and Venus about one hour before the sun. But at temperate latitudes in the Southern Hemisphere, Jupiter rises about two hours before the sun, and Jupiter about one and one-half hours before. The moon's rising time varies, depending upon your latitude - and longitude.
• Venus passed out of the evening sky and into the evening sky on June 5-6, 2012. At this juncture, many people around the world saw Venus as a small, dark dot in front of the sun: the last transit of Venus in this century. Although Venus

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