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 beautiful spiral galaxy in the constellation Coma Berenices has a black eye. M64, the Black Eye galaxy, has a prominent dark band below its nucleus. The band is a lane of dust, which is the likely residue from a smaller galaxy that M64 gobbled up.
Leo, the lion, dives head-first toward the western horizon during May and June evenings. Tonight it stands high in the south as darkness falls. The last of its bright stars to set is Denebola, “the lion’s tail.”
The constellation Coma Berenices is high in the east at nightfall. Both a cluster and a supercluster of galaxies are centered in the constellation. Telescopes reveal a smorgasbord of galaxies of varying type, size, and brightness.
The star cluster Melotte 111, in Coma Berenices, is a good target for binoculars or a small telescope. The constellation is high in the east at nightfall, and good binoculars reveal a small swarm of stars.
Coma Berenices is in the eastern sky at nightfall. Its stars are faint. But under a dark sky, they offer one of the prettiest sights in the heavens: streamers of stars that represent the hair of Berenice, a queen of ancient Egypt.
As twilight fades this evening, two lights will pop into view long before the others. In the west, look for Venus, the “evening star.” At about the same height in the southeast, look for slightly fainter Jupiter, at its brightest for the year.
Jupiter, the largest planet in the solar system, shines at its best for the year this week. It rises at sunset and sets around sunrise. It is brightest for the year, too, outshining everything else in the night sky except the Moon and Venus.
Ursa Major, the great bear, is high in the north on May evenings. The bear’s body and tail form the Big Dipper. The bear aims nose-first at the northern horizon.
The planet Mars is in great view early tomorrow. It looks like a bright orange star just to the lower right of the Moon as the first blush of twilight begins to paint the sky. Mars will grow much brighter over the next couple of months.
Mars and Saturn will be easy to spot early tomorrow, because they will flank the Moon. Saturn will stand to the right of the Moon at first light, with Mars a little farther to the lower left of the Moon. Orange Mars is the brighter planet.
