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 Moon is sailing across the “celestial sea,” a group of constellations related to water. By about 11 p.m. the sea will span the entire southern sky. It incorporates a sea-goat, the water bearer, the fishes, the southern fish, a sea monster, and a river.
A beautiful Moon slides across the southwestern sky this evening, in Capricornus. It is a day past first quarter, so the Sun illuminates more than half of the lunar hemisphere that faces our way. The Moon sets about 1 or 2 a.m.
The Moon is at first quarter today. It rises in early afternoon and sets around midnight. At first quarter, sunlight illuminates exactly half of the lunar hemisphere that faces Earth, so it looks as though someone sliced the Moon down the middle.
One of the treasures of the constellation Andromeda, which is low in the east and northeast at nightfall, is the Blue Snowball Nebula, a bubble of gas expelled by a dying star. The nebula is at the right edge of the constellation, above the Great Square of Pegasus.
Andromeda, the princess, is in the east and northeast at nightfall. It’s faint, though, so you need dark skies to see it. Andromeda is associated with several other constellations that share a common story.
Saturn, the solar system’s second-largest planet, huddles to the lower right of the Moon at nightfall this evening. Saturn has the largest ring system of any of the Sun’s planets, and the second-largest known retinue of moons.
Look for the planet Saturn near the crescent Moon early this evening. It looks like a bright star to the left of the Moon as twilight fades away. They set about three hours after the Sun.
The star Pherkad, which forms the lower outer corner of the Little Dipper’s bowl, is much bigger, brighter, and heavier than the Sun. Over a period of a few hours, though, its brightness varies by a few percent, and astronomers aren’t sure why.
The Little Dipper stands high above the Big Dipper, which is low in the northwest at nightfall. The Little Dipper’s bowl hangs upside down, like it’s pouring its water into the other dipper.
The Orionid meteor shower should be at its best late tonight, and there will be no Moon in the sky then to spoil the show. The shower is known as the Orionids because its meteors “rain” from Orion, although they can streak across any part of the sky.
