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 brightest star in the night sky is clawing its way into prime-time viewing. Sirius is low in the southeast by about 8 p.m., and well up in the south by midnight. It is the brightest star of Canis Major, the big dog, so it’s known as the Dog Star.
The planet Venus is switching sides today. It is crossing behind the Sun as seen from Earth, so it’s moving from the morning sky to the evening sky. Depending on your location, it could emerge as the Evening Star as early as mid- to late February.
The Moon is about three days past full tonight, so the Sun lights up about 90 percent of the lunar hemisphere that faces our way. That makes the Moon nice and bright. But it’s not as bright as you might expect: It is only about half as bright as the full Moon.
Fornax, the furnace, is low in the south-southeast at nightfall. The constellation has only one moderately bright star, Alpha Fornacis. Binoculars show that it’s really two stars. One is bigger and heavier than the Sun, while the other is smaller than the Sun.
The Moon has some prominent companions tonight. It’s flanked by the brilliant planet Jupiter and the star Pollux, the brighter “twin” of Gemini. Castor, the other twin, is to the upper left of the Moon.
The Moon is full tonight. It’s known as the Frost Moon, Moon After Yule, or Wolf Moon. Wolves don’t actually howl at the Moon. They may howl more during the full Moon, but that’s because they are nocturnal, so they are more active when there’s more moonlight.
The Moon will skim just a whisker away from the star Elnath tonight. It is the second-brightest star of Taurus, and marks the tip of one of the bull’s horns. Despite its brightness, you might want to use binoculars to see it through the lunar glare.
The constellation Cancer rises in the east by around 9 p.m. and climbs high across the sky later on. Its stars aren’t all that prominent, although binoculars reveal a sparkly group of stars known as the Beehive Cluster.
Canopus, the second-brightest star in the night sky, is visible for a few hours, before and after midnight, from the southern latitudes of the United States. It is below Sirius, the brightest star, and not far above the horizon.
Sirius, the Dog Star, climbs into good view, in the east-southeast, by 8:30 or 9 p.m. It is the brightest star in the entire night sky. It’s called the Dog Star because it’s the leading light of Canis Major, the big dog.
