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.
Scorpius, the scorpion, is entering prime evening viewing time. Its brightest star, Antares, rises about an hour after sunset, with the scorpion’s “stinger” following about an hour later. Look for orange Antares low in the southeast by 10 or 11 p.m.
Mars is climbing into better view by the day. Right now, the planet stands about a third of the way up the southern sky at first light, and looks like a bright orange star.
The first-quarter Moon snuggles especially close to a bright companion tonight. Regulus, the heart of Leo, the lion, will stand just a degree or so from the Moon as night falls, which is less than the width of your finger held at arm’s length.
A pair of eyes stares down from the northeast as night falls right now — the brightest stars of Draco, the dragon. They are above brilliant Vega, one of the night sky’s most prominent stars. The brighter eye is Eltanin, the dragon’s leading light.
A pair of stuck-together stars is visible through binoculars in Cepheus, the king, which is low in the north at nightfall. VW Cephei is about 90 light-years away. Its two stars share their outer layers of gas, so they look like a glowing peanut.
Vega, in Lyra, the harp, is climbing into the evening sky. It is low in the northeast as the sky gets fully dark, and climbs high overhead during the night. Vega is the third-brightest nighttime star visible from most of the United States.
The planet Venus is in the west shortly after sunset this evening, close to the right of the crescent Moon. Venus is the brilliant “evening star,” so you can’t miss it.
The bright yellow star Arcturus, in the constellation Bootes, stands high in the east at nightfall. It is one of the brightest stars in the night sky. Bootes also contains a large void — a huge volume of space with almost no galaxies.
One of the oldest groups of the stars in the entire Milky Way galaxy is M92. It’s in Hercules, which is in the east and northeast as night falls. M92’s stars probably are more than 13 billion years old, which is almost as old as the universe.
One of the most famous characters in the night sky takes a prominent position at this time of year: Hercules, the strongman. His relatively faint constellation is in view by the time it gets dark, and soars high overhead during the night.
