Scorpius and Sagittarius highlight July nights, scooting low across the south. Antares highlights the scorpion’s hook-shaped body, with teapot-shaped Sagittarius to its left. Under dark skies, the Milky Way rises from the teapot’s spout like steam. Meanwhile, the Big Dipper stands high in the north and northwest during the evening, with its handle to the upper left and bowl to the lower right.
The full Moon of July is known as the Hay Moon, Thunder Moon, or Apollo Moon.
Perigee July 13
Apogee July 25
Moon phases are Central Time.
The Moon slips through Earth’s shadow early tomorrow, creating a total eclipse. From the eastern U.S., the Moon will set before the total eclipse begins. The western U.S. will see all of the total eclipse and all or most of the partial eclipse.
Mercury and Venus, the Sun’s closest planets, huddle in the twilight the next few evenings. They are quite low in the west-northwest at sunset. Venus is by far the brighter of the two. Mercury stands to its the upper left for the next few nights.
The Moon has a bright companion tonight. Spica, the leading light of Virgo, is to the right of the Moon at nightfall. It’s one of the brightest stars in the entire night sky.
The Moon is nice and bright right now and is in view all evening. Spica, the brightest star of Virgo, stands to the lower left of the Moon at nightfall, and will be closer to the right of the Moon tomorrow.
Alphecca, the crown jewel of the northern crown, stands almost straight overhead about midnight. It consists of two stars that were born together, from the same cloud of gas and dust. But one of the stars is almost three times as massive as the other.
A pair of hunting dogs chases high across the north tonight. Known as Canes Venatici, the hounds are pursuing Ursa Major, the great bear, which stands below them at nightfall. The bear includes the stars of the Big Dipper.
Regulus is the bright star below the Moon at nightfall. It is the leading light of Leo, the lion, and one of the brightest stars visible in northern-hemisphere skies.
Rasalhague, the brightest star in Ophiuchus, is quite low in the east as night falls and climbs high across the south later on. Rasalhague is actually two stars that are bound by their gravity, but only one is visible to the unaided eye.
The star at the tip of the Big Dipper’s handle, Alkaid, is 100 light-years away, so the light you see from the star tonight began its journey soon after World War I. Alkaid is much bigger, brighter, heavier, and hotter than the Sun.
The star Felis, the cat, is named for an extinct constellation. It was created by a French astronomer in 1799, then abandoned a century later. The star is low in the southwest at nightfall. Under dark skies, it’s just visible to the unaided eye.
