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 biggest globular star cluster in the Milky Way Galaxy, Omega Centauri, is in the constellation Centaurus, which is quite low in the south at nightfall. From Dallas southward, under dark skies, you might just make out the cluster as a hazy patch of light.
The constellation Centaurus wheels low across the south on June nights-so low that much of it stays below the horizon for much of the U.S. The brightest star visible from most of the country is Menkent, the centaur’s shoulder. It stands due south at nightfall.
June is the best time of year to listen for cosmic fireworks. Daytime meteors can boost the strength of weak FM radio signals for a few seconds at a time. One daytime meteor shower peaks around today’s date, with others following on June 9 and 28.
The Moon is new at 7:38 a.m. CDT today as it crosses the imaginary line between Earth and the Sun. It will return to view as a thin crescent quite low in the west tomorrow evening.
The last gasp of a dying star climbs the eastern sky on June evenings. The Ring Nebula is to the lower right of the brilliant star Vega, which is about halfway up the sky at nightfall. The nebula is the expelled outer layers of a once-normal star.
The planet Venus is at superior conjunction, passing behind the Sun as seen from Earth. It will return to view late next month in the western sky as the Evening Star.
Some of the most interesting objects in the constellation Ophiuchus look like dark holes in the sky. Instead, they are immense clouds of cold gas and dust. They absorb the light of the stars behind them, so they look almost black.
Look for Mars in the dawn sky. It looks like a fairly bright orange star, low in the east at first light. Tomorrow, the planet will stand close to the upper right of the Moon. Mars will climb a little higher into the sky as spring ends and we head into summer.
Mars and the Moon are close together the next few mornings. Mars looks like a moderately bright star. It will stand to the lower left of the Moon at dawn tomorrow, and about the same distance to the upper right of the Moon on Monday.
A “cannibal” star system is in Cygnus, the swan, which is low in the northeast not long after nightfall. One of the stars of 60 Cygni has stripped away most of the gas from its companion, leaving only its core. You need binoculars or a telescope to find 60 Cygni.
