July Skies

A brief overview of what to see in the sky with the unaided eye during
July evenings:

Stars and Constellations
● Scorpius is transiting the meridian during July evenings. The
southern part of the constellation is low in the southern sky and
might not be visible from suburban neighbourhoods, but is easily
visible in dark skies and from lakeshore locations. The bright red
star Antares is also low in the southern sky, but near the northern
end of the constellation and easy to find even in light-polluted skies
● The Summer Triangle of 3 bright stars (Altair, Vega and Deneb)
and their constellations (Aquila, Lyra and Cygnus) is overhead
during the evenings
● The summer Milky Way extends north-to-south through Cygnus
and Aquila, high in the eastern sky during evenings

Planets
● Mercury appears low in the east-northeastern pre-dawn sky during the last week of July
● Venus shines brightly in the northwestern sky after sunset
● Mars is visible low in the eastern pre-dawn sky in the Taurus constellation
● Jupiter is visible in the northwestern sky following sunset during the first week of July and then becomes too close to the sun, and reaches conjunction with the sun July 29
● Saturn appears in the southeastern pre-dawn sky in the
  Pisces constellation

Moon Phases
● Last Quarter Moon July 7, 15:29 EDT
● New Moon July 14, 05:44 EDT
● First Quarter Moon July 21, 07:06 EDT

● Full Moon July 29, 10:36 EDT

Noteworthy Sky Events

·       July 5: Earth at aphelion (farthest from the sun during the year)

·       July 9: Venus appears close to the bright star Regulus in the evening sky

Sky Resources Online

Some website resources for sky charts, weekly sky events, and more information:
● astrogeo.ca/skylights
● www.heavens-above.com
● In-the-sky.org
● www.skyandtelescope.org
● www.skymaps.com

Monthly Sky Chart for mid-July, mid-evening (courtesy of www.heavens-above.com):