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 glimpse of the Milky Way under dark skies reveals not just its glowing band of light but some dark rifts running through it. They are lanes of dust that block the light of the stars behind them, just as thick clouds in the sky block the Sun from view.
The two most prominent star clusters in the night sky are in good view on autumn evenings. The V-shaped Hyades cluster outlines the face of Taurus, the bull, while the smaller, dipper-shaped Pleiades cluster represents his shoulder.
Mars is in the east as night falls and arcs high across the south later on. The planet shines like a brilliant orange star all night long. It will remain the third-brightest object in the night sky for most of October.
One of our nearest galactic neighbors climbs high across the sky tonight. The galaxy is M33, in Triangulum, the triangle. It’s low in the northeast at nightfall and high overhead by midnight. You need binoculars or a telescope to see the galaxy.
Venus is the “morning star,” outshining everything in the night sky except the Moon. It is scheduled to receive a visitor tonight: BepiColombo, a European spacecraft. It is using Venus’s gravity to shape its path to Mercury, the closest planet to the Sun.
Mars outshines everything else in the night sky for the next few weeks except the Moon and Venus, which currently is the “morning star.” It looks like a brilliant orange star. The planet is low in the east at nightfall and in the west at first light.
The crescent Moon has two bright companions at dawn tomorrow. The planet Venus, the dazzling “morning star,” will stand directly below the Moon. And the star Regulus, the heart of Leo, the lion, will be about the same distance to the upper right of the Moon.
Mars is shining at its best this week. It is lining up opposite the Sun in our sky, so it is especially close and bright. It looks like a brilliant orange star. It’s in the east as night falls and arcs high across the south during the night.
Aquarius drifts across the southern sky on autumn nights. Tonight, it’s in the southeast as the sky gets good and dark and due south a couple of hours later. The constellation is known as the water-bearer. It represents a man or boy pouring water from a vase.
One of the biggest black holes yet seen is 34 billion times the mass of the Sun, which is heavier than many galaxies. It’s in a galaxy that’s on the border between the constellations Grus and Piscis Austrinus, which scoot low across the south this evening.
