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.
As twilight fades away this evening, the stars slowly fade in. The first stars to pop into view include yellow-orange Arcturus, fairly low in the west; ruddy Antares, quite low in the southwest, and the three stars of the Summer Triangle high overhead.
Bright orange Aldebaran, the eye of the celestial bull, stands to the lower left of the Moon as they rise late this evening, and even closer to the upper left of the Moon at first light tomorrow.
Fomalhaut, the leading light of Piscis Austrinus, the southern fish, stands low in the southeast at nightfall, and at its highest, due south, a few hours later. It’s bright, and there are no other bright stars around it, so it stands out.
The Moon is just past full but it still looks round and bright, and is visible almost all night. The full Moon looks unusually large just after it rises. Known as the Moon Illusion, this is not a physical effect, it’s simply an optical illusion.
The Harvest Moon is on display tonight. It is the full Moon closest to the autumnal equinox, which took place September 22. September’s full Moon occurred about 16 days before the equinox, with October’s full Moon about 13 days after the equinox.
Venus shines as the brilliant “morning star,” low in the east at first light tomorrow, with Mars quite close to the lower right. Mars is only about one percent as bright as Venus, but its proximity to the brighter world will help you pick it out.
The Moon is at the eastern edge of Aquarius tonight, quite near Trappist-1, a star that hosts seven known planets, more than any system other than our own. The star is tiny and feeble, though, so it’s too faint to see with the eye alone.
The celestial water bearer pours a streamer of faint stars across the southern sky on October nights. Aquarius is low in the southeast as the sky gets good and dark tonight, surrounding the gibbous Moon, and stands due south before midnight.
Autumn is just underway, but you can get a preview of the winter sky in the hours before dawn. Taurus, the bull, is high overhead. Orion is due south, with Sirius, the sky’s brightest star, in the south-southeast.
Epsilon Lyrae stands quite close to Vega, one of the brightest stars in summer and autumn skies, which is high in the west at nightfall. Epsilon Lyrae consists of two pairs of stars. Each pair is tightly bound, with the two pairs quite far apart.
