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 Alpha Persei cluster is a family of more than 500 stars, spanning almost 150 light-years. All of its stars were born from the same giant cloud of gas and dust. The cluster is near the brightest star of Perseus, in the northeast at nightfall.
Polaris, the North Star, consists of at least three stars. Only one is bright enough to see with our eyes alone. It has a close but faint companion. The third member of the system is far from the other two. The system appears to be about 450 light-years away.
The Andromeda Galaxy, M31, is in the east-northeast at nightfall. Under dark skies, it’s visible to the eye alone from 2.5 million light-years away. A century ago, Edwin Hubble confirmed its nature as a galaxy far outside the Milky Way.
The stars of the Big Dipper dip quite low at nightfall at this time of year. In fact, from south of about Kansas City, one or more of its stars dip below the horizon and out of view. And from south of about Dallas, the entire dipper vanishes.
The Moon tonight takes aim at Regulus, the heart of the lion. The star climbs into good view directly below the Moon after midnight. The Moon will move toward the star during the night, so they will stand much closer together at dawn.
Mars perches close to the upper right of the Moon as they climb into good view in late evening. The planet looks like a bright orange star. Only a handful of stars and planets outshine it.
Pollux, the brighter twin of Gemini, is close to the Moon as they climb into good view by about 10 p.m. They will be high in the sky at first light. By then, the Moon will line up half way between Pollux and an even brighter light, the planet Mars.
Summer’s signature star pattern remains in good view. The Summer Triangle is high in the west at nightfall. The brilliant star Vega marks its lower right point. Deneb is high above Vega, with Altair farther to the left of Vega.
The planet Jupiter stands to the upper right of the Moon as they climb into view this evening. It looks like a brilliant star. The true star Aldebaran, the eye of the bull, is farther along that line. Elnath, the tip of the bull’s horn, is close above the Moon.
The bright Moon has some bright companions tonight: the planet Jupiter and the star Aldebaran. But the Moon washes out most of the Leonid meteor shower. Only the brightest meteors will shine through the glare of the just-past-full Moon.
