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.
Sirius, the brightest star in all the night sky, is clawing its way into prime-time viewing. It is low in the southeast by 9:30 or 10 p.m., and high in the south after midnight. It’s the brightest star of Canis Major, the Big Dog, so it’s also known as the Dog Star.
The Geminid meteor shower is building toward its peak, on Wednesday night. There won’t be any moonlight to spoil the show, so if you can get away from city lights it should be a good display.
Alpha Camelopardalis is one of the brighter stars of the giraffe, a faint constellation that is in the north on December evenings. The star looks faint, but only because it’s 6,000 light-years away. It’s actually hundreds of thousands of times brighter than the Sun.
The constellation Sculptor, which represents a sculptor’s studio, stretches across the south at nightfall. To find it, first find Fomalhaut, the lonely bright star low in the south at nightfall. Sculptor spreads out to the lower left of Fomalhaut.
The weekend gets off to a beautiful start early tomorrow. The Moon and the planet Venus, the Morning Star, climb into good view by two or three hours before sunrise. They are well up in the southeast as twilight paints the sky.
Spica will stand close below the Moon at dawn tomorrow, with Venus farther to the lower left of the Moon. Spica is the brightest star of the constellation Virgo, while Venus is the beautiful Morning Star.
The ancient elements of fire and water sit side by side low in the southern sky at this time of year. Fire is represented by the constellation Fornax, the furnace. To its east is the watery constellation Eridanus, the river.
The shortest day of the year is the winter solstice, December 21. Yet the year’s earliest sunsets came a few days ago for those around the latitude of Miami. It will occur in a few days for those at the latitude of Dallas, and a few days later for those farther north.
Ursa Minor, the little bear, is in the north at nightfall. Some of its stars form the Little Dipper. The dipper is anchored by Polaris, the North Star or Pole Star, which forms the tip of the bear’s tail.
Jupiter, the largest planet in the solar system, is in the east at nightfall. It looks like a brilliant star, and is far brighter than any other object in the night sky other than the Moon and the planet Venus.
