Lunar Phases  July 7 - 4:21 am* July 15 - 4:53 am* July 21 - 9:35 pm* July 28 - 5:00 pm* Apogee: July 7 Perigee: July 21

July 2009
The bull casts his ruddy eye — the star Aldebaran — on some interesting goings-on in the dawn sky. Venus, the enchanting "morning star," is close to Aldebaran early in the month, with Mars huddling closer to it later on. Mars and Aldebaran show the same orange color, and are almost identically bright this month. The Moon joins the lineup for a few days. Another orange pinpoint, the star Antares, highlights the evening as the center of Scorpius, the scorpion. The summer Milky Way arcs across the sky at an earlier hour each night.

3 Earth is at aphelion, its greatest distance from the Sun for the year.

Antares is slightly to the left or lower left of the Moon at nightfall, and they move closer together during the night.

10 Jupiter stands close to the right of the Moon as they rise in late evening.

13 A small telescope will reveal the planet Neptune just to the upper left of brilliant Jupiter as it rises in late evening.

14 Aldebaran, the "eye" of Taurus, the bull, is to the lower right of Venus, the "morning star," at first light. Mars is above them.

17-19 The Moon, Venus, Mars, and Aldebaran stage a beautiful show. The Moon is above the others on the morning of the 17th, beside Mars on the 18th, and to the left of Venus on the 19th. Aldebaran stays to the right of Venus.

22 A total solar eclipse is visible across parts of Asia and the Pacific.

24-25 Golden Saturn stands above the Moon at nightfall on the 24th, and to its upper right on the 25th.

27 Two orange pinpoints line up close together this morning: Mars and Aldebaran. Mars is slightly higher. They are well up in the east at dawn.

30-31 Antares is to the left of the Moon on the evening of the 30th, and to the right of the Moon on the 31st.

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* Lunar phase times are listed for the U.S. Central Time Zone.