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.
Orion is low in the eastern sky at nightfall. Look for his three-star belt extending almost straight up from the horizon. The bright orange star Betelgeuse is to the left of the belt. The faint triangle of stars that makes up Orion’s head is above Betelgeuse.
The first meteor shower of the year is at its peak late tonight. For a short while, the Quadrantid shower may produce several dozen “shooting stars” per hour. Unfortunately, the gibbous Moon will overpower all but its brightest meteors.
Earth begins the new year by snuggling up to the Sun. Early tomorrow, the Sun will be closest for the year, just 91 million miles away. That’s less than two percent closer than the average distance, though, so we won’t notice the difference.
The Moon is high in the sky as the new year arrives. Mars is low in the west then and looks like a bright orange star. Orion is high in the south, marked by its three-star belt. Follow the belt to the lower left to Sirius, the brightest star in the night sky.
Pollux, the brighter of the twin stars of Gemini, stands to the left of the just-past-full Moon as darkness falls. Castor, the other twin, is to the upper left of Pollux.
The Moon is full tonight. It’s known as the Long Night Moon. Because it occurs near the winter solstice, when the Sun is in view for the shortest period of the year, the Moon is in the sky longer than any other full Moon of the year.
The Moon passes through the Winter Circle the next few night. It contains several of the night sky’s brightest stars, but it’s so spread out that it’s hard to take in all at once.
The Moon follows the follower across the sky tonight — the star Aldebaran, the eye of Taurus, the bull. Aldebaran is close to the right of the Moon as night falls, and below the Moon as they drop down the western sky in the wee hours of the morning.
Most of the stars in the night sky consist of two stars or more. Prominent examples this evening include bright yellow-orange Capella, in the northeast at nightfall, and far below it, Castor, one of the twins of Gemini, which has six known stars.
Cygnus, the swan, soars high across the evening sky during summer, and really does resemble a graceful bird. Now, though, its bill points downward and its wings are almost parallel to the horizon. This angle has earned Cygnus a second name: the Northern Cross.
