Scorpius and Sagittarius climb into good view in the southern sky, with their outlines looking like a scorpion and a teapot. On moonless nights, the subtle glow of the Milky Way extends upward from these constellations, providing an amazing view for those who can escape the glow of city lights.
The full Moon of July is known as the Hay Moon, Thunder Moon, or Apollo Moon.
Apogee July 4
Perigee July 20
Moon phases are Central Time
The Moon and the Seven Sisters huddle up in the wee hours of tomorrow morning. The Moon will “occult” some of the sisters, which are the brightest stars of the Pleiades star cluster. The stars form a tiny dipper at the shoulder of Taurus, the bull.
A great eagle soars high overhead on summer nights: the constellation Aquila. Its brightest star, Altair, forms the lower right point of the summer triangle. Look for the wide triangle of bright stars high in the east in the early evening.
The Moon is at last quarter at 7:39 p.m. CDT. The Moon lines up at a right angle to the line from Earth to the Sun, so sunlight illuminates half of the lunar hemisphere that faces our way.
A bright trio lines up low in the east at first light tomorrow. The brightest member is Venus, the Morning Star, with the star Aldebaran close to its upper right. The star cluster NGC 1647 is closer to the right of Venus, but you need binoculars to see it.
The planet Saturn appears near the Moon early tomorrow. It looks like a bright star with a hint of golden color just below the Moon at dawn. The planet fades from view as the sky brightens.
The Dumbbell Nebula, a colorful bubble of gas expelled by a dying star, is in Vulpecula, the fox, which is in the east at nightfall. The nebula is about halfway between Deneb and Altair, the stars that mark the bottom of the Summer Triangle.
The constellation Scutum poses to the upper left of teapot-shaped Sagittarius as night falls. Under dark skies, you can see that it is enwrapped in the hazy veil of the Milky Way.
Two bright cousins of Antares, the heart of the scorpion, skitter to its lower right this evening. Alpha and Beta Lupi, the brightest stars of Lupus, the wolf, belong to the same complex of stars and star-making ingredients that gave birth to Antares.
Three tiny constellations stairstep up the eastern sky at nightfall. From bottom to top, they are Equuleus, the little horse; Delphinus, the dolphin; and Sagitta, the arrow. Under dark skies, both Delphinus and Sagitta are easy to pick out.
Venus and Aldebaran huddle close, low in the east at first light the next few days. Venus is the Morning Star, with fainter Aldebaran directly below it. Venus will slide to the lower left, and stand side by side with Aldebaran on Tuesday and Wednesday.
