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 evening twilight fades, the planet Mercury is close below the Moon. Brighter Jupiter is to the left or upper left of the Moon; Pollux and Castor, the twins of Gemini, to the upper right; and Venus, the Evening Star, farther to the upper left.
A cluster of young stars is just emerging from its birthplace, the Cocoon Nebula. It’s about 4,000 light-years away, in Cygnus. It is low in the northeast at nightfall, to the lower left of bright Deneb, the swan’s tail. The nebula is too faint to see with the eye alone.
The planet Mercury is in view in the evening twilight the next few nights. Although it looks like a bright star, it is so low that you need a clear horizon to spot it. It lines up to the lower right of the much brighter planets Venus and Jupiter.
The Methuselah Star, so called because it’s roughly the age of the universe, is in Libra. As night falls, the star is to the lower left of Zubeneschamali, Libra’s leading light. It is too faint to see with the eye alone, but it is visible through binoculars.
Two bright stars that are on the move are in view at nightfall this evening. Regulus, which is moving away from us, is in the west, well to the upper left of the brilliant planets Venus and Jupiter. Antares, low in the southeast, is sliding toward us.
The planets Venus, Jupiter, and Mercury, and the stars Pollux and Castor-the “twins” of Gemini-congregate in the west in early evening. Venus is the brightest member, with the twins to its right, and Jupiter and Mercury to its lower right.
Eltanin, an Arabic name that means “the serpent,” is the brightest star of Draco, the dragon, which is high in the north on summer evenings. Eltanin is as bright as the nearby North Star, Polaris.
The planet Saturn is near the Moon at dawn tomorrow. It looks like a bright star to the lower right of the Moon. A small telescope will reveal the largest of the planet’s almost 300 known moons.
A conjunction between the two brightest points of light in the night sky, the planets Venus and Jupiter, plays out in the west the next couple of evenings. They are separated by less than two degrees, which is the width of your finger held at arm’s length.
Jupiter and Venus stand side by side at nightfall. Brighter Venus, the Evening Star, is on the right. The planets are the two brightest objects in the entire night sky other than the Moon. Fainter Mercury is to their lower right.
