Several times a year near the moon’s first quarter phase, small clair-obscur effect features on the moon called the Lunar X and the Lunar V become visible in strong binoculars and backyard telescopes for a few hours. The Lunar X, a prominent X-shaped pattern, appears when the rims of the craters Purbach, la Caille, and […]
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Monthly Night Sky information provided by Chris Vaughan (@Astrogeoguy) at Starry Night Education (@StarryNightEdu).
Astronomical Events
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The moon will complete the first quarter of its orbit around Earth, measuring from the previous new moon, on Wednesday, July 2 at 3:30 p.m. EDT or 12:30 p.m. PDT, which converts to 19:30 GMT. The 90 degree angle formed by the Earth, sun, and moon at that time will cause us to see our […] |
3 events,On Thursday, July 3 at 4:00 p.m. EDT, 1:00 p.m. PDT, or 20:00 GMT, Earth will reach aphelion, its greatest distance from the sun for this year. Aphelion’s 94.51 million miles (152.09 million km) distance is 1.67% farther from the sun than the mean Earth-sun separation of 92.96 million miles (149.6 million km), which is […]
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After sunset on Thursday evening, July 3, Mercury (orbit shown in red) will stretch to its widest separation of 25.9 degrees east of the sun, and its maximum visibility, for its current apparition. This appearance of the planet will be reasonably good for both Northern Hemisphere and Southern Hemisphere observers. The optimal viewing time at […]
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When the sky darkens after dusk on Thursday, July 3, Virgo’s brightest star Spica will appear just to the upper right of the waxing gibbous moon in the southwestern sky. Until they set after midnight, the duo will share the view in binoculars (orange circle). Observers viewing the pair later, or in more westerly time […] |
1 event,The brilliant planet Venus will dominate the eastern predawn sky for most of this year while it slowly swings back toward the sun. On the mornings surrounding Friday, July 4, Venus will pass close enough to Uranus to allow early risers to use Venus to locate the far fainter planet in binoculars (orange circle). On […] |
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On Saturday night, July 5, the terminator on the waxing gibbous moon will fall just west of Sinus Iridum, the Bay of Rainbows. The circular 155 mile (249 km) diameter feature is a large impact crater that was flooded by the same basalts that filled the much larger Mare Imbrium to its east – forming […] |
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1 event,In the southern sky after dusk on Monday, July 7, the prominent reddish star Antares will be twinkling several finger widths to the right of the bright, waxing gibbous moon. By the time that Antares sets ahead of the moon, at around 2:30 a.m. local time, the rotation of the sky will have shifted it […] |
1 event,On the nights around Wednesday, July 9, the ringed planet Saturn will finally begin to rise before midnight for observers located at mid-northern latitudes – making Saturn available for evening viewing again after a long absence. During the wee hours, the bright, creamy-yellow planet will climb the southeastern sky below the Great Square of Pegasus. […] |
2 events,The moon will reach its full phase on Thursday, July 10 at 4:37 p.m. EDT or 1:37 p.m. PDT and 20:37 GMT. The July full moon, commonly called the Buck Moon, Thunder Moon, or Hay Moon, always shines in or near the stars of Sagittarius or Capricornus. The indigenous Ojibwe people of the Great Lakes […] |
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1 event,After dusk in mid-July, the first stars to appear in the darkening eastern sky are Vega, Deneb, and Altair. Those three bright, white stars form the Summer Triangle asterism – an annual feature of the summer sky that remains visible until the end of December! The highest and most easterly of the trio is Vega, […] |
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1 event,On Monday morning, July 14, the regular eastward motion of Saturn through the background stars of western Pisces will slow to a stop as it prepares to execute a westerly retrograde loop (red curve) that will last until the end of November. The apparent reversal in Saturn’s motion is an effect of parallax produced when […] |
1 event,A short time after the bright, waning gibbous moon clears the treetops in the east around midnight on Tuesday evening, July 15, the prominent, yellowish dot of Saturn will climb to join it – close enough to the moon for them to share the view in binoculars (orange circle). The very faint blue planet Neptune […] |
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The moon will complete three quarters of its orbit around Earth, measured from the previous new moon, on Thursday, July 17 at 8:38 p.m. EDT or 5:38 p.m. PDT, which converts to Friday at 02:52 GMT. At the third (or last) quarter phase the moon appears half-illuminated on its western, sunward side. It will rise […] |
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After dusk in mid-July, the distinctive constellation of Scorpius, the Scorpion reaches its peak elevation over the southern horizon. The constellation’s brightest star is orange-tinted Antares, the “Rival of Mars”. Several medium-bright, white stars arranged in a roughly vertical line to the west of Antares mark the creature’s claws on modern sky charts; however, the […] |
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1 event,In the eastern sky before dawn on Sunday morning, July 20, the pretty, waning crescent moon will shine very close to the bright little Pleiades Star Cluster (aka The Seven Sisters, Subaru, and Messier 45) in Taurus. The pairing will show nicely in binoculars (orange circle). For skywatchers in the Americas, the moon will pass […] |
1 event,After 24 hours of additional eastward motion, the more slender crescent of the waning moon will make a lovely sight while it shines above the brilliant planet Venus in the east before sunrise on Monday, July 21. The pair can be enjoyed, and photographed, between the time that Venus rises at about 3 a.m. local […] |
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1 event,The old crescent moon will complete its visit with the bright morning planets on Wednesday, July 22, when its slim, 2.5%-illuminated sliver will shine less than a palm’s width to the left (or 5 degrees to the celestial northeast) of brilliant Jupiter. Before the sun begins to rise, you can place Jupiter on the right […] |
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On Thursday, July 24 at 3:11 p.m. EDT or 12:11 p.m. PDT, or 19:11 GMT, the moon will officially reach its new moon phase. At that time our natural satellite will be located in Cancer, 3.4 degrees north of the sun. While new, the moon is travelling in space between Earth and the sun. Since […] |
1 event,On the nights surrounding Friday morning, July 25, the dim and distant dwarf planet designated (134340) Pluto will reach opposition for 2025. On that date, the Earth will be positioned between Pluto and the sun, minimizing our distance from that outer world and maximizing Pluto’s visibility. While at opposition, Pluto will be located 3.28 billion […] |
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For a short time after sunset on Saturday, July 26, the extremely slender crescent of the young moon will shine above the western horizon. As the sky darkens, Leo’s brightest star Regulus will appear just to the lower right (or celestial west) of the moon – close enough for them to share the view in […] |
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As the sky begins to darken after dusk on Monday, July 28, look low in the western sky for reddish Mars shining several finger widths to the upper right (or 3 degrees to the celestial north) of the waxing moon’s slender crescent – close enough for them to share the view in binoculars (orange circle). […] |
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The annual Southern Delta-Aquariids meteor shower lasts from July 18 to August 21. In 2025 it will peak during the wee hours of Tuesday morning, July 29 in the Americas, but it is quite active for a week surrounding the peak night. The best viewing time will run from late Monday evening until the sky […] |
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After a previous visit on July 3, the moon’s trip around Earth will bring it back to shine near Virgo’s brightest star Spica again on Wednesday evening, July 30. As darkness falls, look low in the western sky for bright, white Spica twinkling several finger widths to the upper left (or celestial east) of the […] |
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