What's Up In The Sky Now?

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July brings warm weather which makes it nicer to be outside at night to look at our night sky.

MERCURY - by the last few days of July, this little planet returns to our morning sky after an inferior conjunction (when it stands between the Sun and Earth) on the 12th.

VENUS - remains our ‘Evening Star’ until October. For now, it continues to shine brightly in the west, but you may need to catch it quickly in the evening twilight as it sets soon after sunset. The bright star Regulus in Leo is near Venus on the 1st day of the month about one hour after sunset with the 2 becoming closer together on the 8th.

EARTH  - on the 4th, we celebrate the 250th Anniversary of the signing of our Declaration of Independence!!

MARS - the red planet draws closer to Earth this month as it continues its orbit around the Sun, which allows this tiny planet to slowly brighten in our skies. On the 11th, look for a wonderful grouping of Mars, Uranus, Moon and the bright star Aldebaran in the E-NE sky about 4:00 AM. The Pleiades star cluster looks on from above. 

JUPITER - we say ‘goodbye’ to this beautiful planet and its moons as it leaves our evening skies after July 9th. Has a solar conjunction on the 29th.

SATURN - continues to rise earlier each night which puts it into darker skies instead of rising closer to sunrise. By mid-month, it will be rising after midnight.

URANUS - has a close encounter with Mars on the 4th; try looking for Mars first, then Uranus.

NEPTUNE - still need binoculars or a telescope to see this pretty blue planet with best viewing after 3 AM as it stays near Saturn.

• 07 – 3rd / Last quarter
• 14 – NEW Moon at 4:43 AM CDT
• 21 – 1st quarter
• 29 – FULL Moon at 9:35 AM PM. 

The full moon this month is known as the ‘Buck Moon’ for the new antlers that are beginning to emerge on the buck deer. Also known as the ‘Thunder Moon’ and ‘Hay Moon’. On the evening of the 16th, our Moon, at a waxing crescent phase with only a slim lunar disk showing, sits next to Regulus, the bright star in the constellation Leo the Lion. The pairing of the Moon and Regulus is always a nice event to see. This night we get the added fun of Venus nearby.