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.
A couple of planets lead the Moon down the sky after sunset. Both are bright but low in the sky, so you need a clear horizon to spot them. Mercury is to the lower right of the Moon, with Jupiter to the lower right of Mercury. Binoculars will help you pick them out.
Wezen, the third-brightest star of Canis Major, the big dog, rises below the top dog, Sirius, the brightest star in the night sky. They are in the southeast by 8 or 8:30. Wezen is so big that if it took the Sun’s place, it would extend all the way out to Earth.
Adhara, the second-brightest star of Canis Major, is in the southeast this evening, far to the lower right of Sirius, the brightest star in the night sky. Adhara is thousands of times brighter than Sirius, but also hundreds of light-years farther.
Winter nights sparkle with some of the brightest stars in the sky. Yet it takes only a glance to pick out the brightest of all: Sirius, the leading light of Canis Major, the big dog. It’s in the southeast by mid-evening and scoots low across the south later on.
The Moon and Venus, the “morning star,” will be quite low in the southeast about 30 minutes before sunrise. You will need an unobstructed horizon to spot them.
Antares, the bright star at the heart of the scorpion, will stand to the right of the Moon at first light tomorrow. Antares shines bright orange, which is where it gets its name: “Antares” means “rival of Mars,” indicating a close resemblance to the Red Planet.
The star cluster Messier 35 stands at the feet of Gemini, the twins, in the east at nightfall. The cluster contains several thousand stars. Under dark skies, the cluster is visible to the unaided eye as a hazy smudge of light.
Zubenelgenubi, a star that represents a claw of the scorpion, rises close to the right of the Moon in the wee hours of tomorrow morning. Officially, the star belongs to Libra, the balance scales, although it retains an ancient name that means “the southern claw.”
Lepus, the rabbit, is low in the southeast at nightfall, to the lower right of Orion. It hosts the faintest star yet seen, which is just one ten-thousandth as bright as the Sun. It’s just 40 light-years away, but it’s far too faint to see without a good telescope.
Spica, the brightest star of Virgo, is in good view at dawn tomorrow, below the last-quarter Moon. About 2,000 years ago, an astronomer used Spica to discover that the starry background shifts position relative to the Sun.
