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.
Two big stars with different futures stand below the Moon at nightfall. Their light blurs together into one point: Spica, the brightest star of Virgo. One of the stars will explode as a supernova, while the other faces a fate similar to the Sun’s.
Look well up in the east as darkness falls for yellow-orange Arcturus, the brightest star in the evening sky at this time of year. Well to its lower left is Corona Borealis, the northern crown, a semicircle of stars that opens to the upper left.
Corvus, the crow, is low in the southeast at nightfall and arcs across the southern sky during the night. Corvus’s brightest stars form a small but distinct box. In mythology, the crow was a servant of the god Apollo.
Regulus, the heart of Leo, the lion, stands close to the right of the Moon as darkness falls. The Moon passes the star roughly once per month. Their conjunctions are possible because both lie near the ecliptic, which is the Sun’s path across the sky.
The Moon descends the western sky this evening, with the star Regulus to the left or upper left of the Moon. Regulus is the heart of Leo, the lion, and one of the brightest stars in the night sky.
Cor Caroli, the Heart of Charles, is the brightest star of Canes Venatici, the hunting dogs. It’s to the right of the handle of the Big Dipper as night falls, and wheels above the dipper later on. It consists of two stars in a wide orbit around each other.
The Lyrid meteor shower should be at its best tonight. You need dark skies to see it. Even at its peak, the shower produces no more than a dozen or so meteors per hour. But the Moon is out of the way, so if you have a good viewing spot it’s worth a look.
The planet Mercury just peeks into view in the east at dawn sky over the next few days. It looks like a fairly bright star. It is quite low, though, so you need a clear horizon to see it. The planet stands a little higher as seen from southerly latitudes.
The Crab Nebula, which is the debris from an exploded star, stands close above the Moon this evening. It is an easy target for small telescopes. Its filaments of gas and dust resemble the outline of a crab.
The Moon is in the west during twilight this evening. Aldebaran will stand close to the upper left of the Moon. The bright orange star represents the eye of Taurus, the celestial bull.
