Monthly Night Sky information provided by Chris Vaughan (@Astrogeoguy) at Starry Night Education (@StarryNightEdu).
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]