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 total solar eclipse will take place on August 21. It will cover a narrow slice of the United States, from Oregon to South Carolina. Millions of Americans are expected to travel to the eclipse path, making it the most-viewed solar eclipse in history.
Sakurai’s Object, a dying star in Sagittarius, was “reborn” a couple of decades ago as it began “burning” helium around its core. Although it is too faint to see, it is above the teapot formed by the brightest stars of Sagittarius, which is in the south as night falls.
Sagittarius scoots low across the south on summer nights. Its brightest stars form the outline of a teapot, with clouds of stars rising from its spout like steam. Those clouds conceal the busy center of the Milky Way galaxy.
The Perseid meteor shower should be at its best the next couple of nights. There won’t be much to see, though, because the gibbous Moon will be in view most of the night. Its glow will overpower all but the brightest meteors.
The brightest star of summer nights is diving toward the western horizon. Arcturus, the leading light of Bootes, the herdsman, is about a third of the way up the western sky at nightfall. It is dropping lower each night.
The Big Dipper plunges toward the northern horizon on August evenings. It is in the northwest as darkness falls, with its scoop below the handle, as though it’s preparing to dip into a celestial well.
The Moon is crossing Aquarius tonight. Although it is well known, the constellation is rather faint, so it’s tough to see its stars through the bright moonlight. Aquarius will climb to prominence in early autumn.
The dawn sky is offering the same stars that will decorate the evening sky of winter, which are some of the brightest and most beautiful stars and constellations of them all. It also offers a bonus: Venus, the brilliant “morning star.”
The Dog Star is just beginning to emerge from the Sun’s glare in the dawn sky. According to tradition, that means we’re just getting into the Dog Days of summer. Sirius is quite low in the east-southeast shortly before sunrise.
Mu Andromeda, one of the targets in a search for extraterrestrial intelligence, is in view in the northeast by 11 p.m., above Mirach, Andromeda’s second-brightest star. The search has found odd radio signals from the star, although they’re not thought to be messages from ET.
