What’s Up?
“What’s Up?”, updated July 8, 2026
Starting January 2026, this section will feature a monthly summary of what is happening in the skies above us. It will be updated during the first days of each month to include celestial events for that particular month.
Early July
As it starts to get dark these early-to-mid July evenings, Venus remains as the evening star fairly low in the west at dusk. It is located close to the star Regulus, the brightest star in Leo, which, this evening (July 8) is visible less than 2° above Venus. Regulus continues to gradually creep toward Venus, passing just 1° south of the latter on the evening of July 9. Venus is now starting to get lower each day, but not by much. It will remain visible as the evening star until early October.
As the skies darken further, the Summer Triangle becomes visible low in the east and east-northeast. The highest and brightest star is Vega, high in the East Northeast. About 20° below and left of it is Deneb, which forms the top of a sideways “northern cross”, which tilts up a bit from the horizon. This also marks the Cygnus constellation. Altair is visible to the lower right of both Vega and Deneb. Now is the time of year when the best of the Milky Way is visible in the evening sky. The Moon is setting after midnight, and later with each passing day, so now is the time to have a look at this stream of stars from a location well away from city lights. Among the Northern Cross stars is a cloud of unseen stars, the Cygnus Star Cloud. It is a rich field of stars because we are looking down a spiral arm of the galaxy.
Below and left of Altair by about 10°, is the compact constellation Delphinus the Dolphin. At a similar distance above and left of Altair is an even fainter constellation, Sagitta the Arrow. Both of these patterns of stars look much like their namesakes (binoculars help). Looking due south is the bright orange star Antares. It is the brightest star in the Scorpius constellation, which includes the distinctive pattern of stars to the right and upper right of Antares. The rest of the constellation curves down toward the horizon then bends left. Left of Scorpius is Sagittarius, with the main stars forming a teapot-like asterism. From what is the spout, cloudy steam appears to be coming up, which is the Sagittarius Star Cloud, a location in the Galaxy just south of the Galactic Center (which is hidden from view by dust and stars).
In the predawn hours of July 11, there is a thin crescent Moon lining up with Mars and Aldebaran. The Moon is situated also below and left of the Pleiades star cluster. One morning later, on 12 July, the Moon had moved on toward beta Tauri.
Mid July
After passing through New phase at exactly 4:44 am CDT on July 14, the Moon takes another two days to become visible in the evening sky, which it does on the evening of July 16. On this evening, the 10% illuminated crescent Moon is found as close as 1-1/4° to the lower left of Regulus, the brightest star in Leo. On this evening, the Lion is tilted downward toward the western horizon, starting to make its seasonal exit from the evening sky. One evening later, the Moon passes well south of Venus. By now the 18% illuminated crescent Moon is a little over 6° to the right of the Moon. In the subsequent evenings, the Moon will continue to wax, or get thicker, as it moves from Leo into Virgo, reaching First Quarter at exactly 6:06 am on July 21.
The night before First Quarter, on July 20, the Moon pairs with Spica, just a few degrees south of the star. At the time it gets dark during the mid-July evenings, Virgo is already starting to drop lower in the southwestern sky, following Leo into the twilight glow. Virgo is still visible for another month before it fades from view. Scorpius is due south at end of twilight, followed by Sagittarius. Facing west, Arcturus is positioned high in the western sky. It is the point that the curving handle of the Big Dipper curves towards (“Arc to Arcturus”). The Big Dipper is starting to descend toward the northwestern horizon, doing a scooping motion that will eventually render it upright before turning horizontal as it passes due north in the predawn hours.
Late July
The waxing gibbous Moon enters the Scorpio territory of the sky on July 23, being just west of the three star pattern that makes up its head. One evening later, it passes south of Antares, being just a few degrees south and east of the red giant on the evening of July 24. Then on July 25, it passes north of the tail of the Scorpion. The Moon then crosses Sagittarius on July 26-27 before it reaches Full Moon phase on the night of July 28/29. The Moon will be situated in the eastern part of Capricornus on the evening of the 28th, then it reaches Full phase at exactly 9:36 am CDT on July 29.
Mercury reappears in Earth’s sky by July 27 (as seen from mid-northern latitudes). It is low in the dawn sky, about 30 minutes before sunrise, but will be challenging to spot at first. Binoculars, a flat eastern horizon, and clear, cloud- and haze-free weather are essential. Mercury gets a little higher and brighter with each passing morning as July transitions into August. Mercury reaches best visibility on August 5, when it rises 90 minutes before sunrise and shines at magnitude -0.4. Mercury joins Mars and Saturn as three naked-eye planets that are visible i
Observations of Solar and Lunar Eclipses and Other Observations
Images of the March 14, 2025 total lunar eclipse can be viewed here.
We observed two solar eclipses less than six months apart. Check out images from these celestial events at this site.
We observed and imaged the total lunar eclipsed that occurred during the predawn hours of 8 November 2022. The images and report can be viewed at https://www.pvamu.edu/pvso/cosmic-corner/total-lunar-eclipse-2022-1-2/. Partial lunar eclipse began at 3:09 am CST, total eclipse started at 4:16 am CST, maximum eclipse (when the Moon should appear darkest) at 4:59 am CST, total eclipse ended at 5:42 am CST, and partial eclipse finished at 6:49 am. The subtle penumbral shading was detectable some 30 to 40 minutes before and after the partial stages.
On 15 May 2022, a Total Lunar Eclipse, with totality lasting nearly 85 minutes, was visible across North and South America (except the far northwest part of North America). Partial eclipse began at 9:28 pm CDT (May 15), totality began at 10:29 pm, mid eclipse was 11:12 pm, total eclipse ended at 11:54 pm and partial eclipse ended at 12:56 pm, CDT (May 16). We did observe the event and got pictures, check out this website for these.
Observations of the partial phase of the May 2021 lunar eclipse (taken with smartphone and a University telescope), along with unfiltered, stacked galaxy and cluster images, can be viewed from the project update website https://www.pvamu.edu/pvso/cosmic-corner/project-summary-2/.
Jupiter was hit by a meteor in 2021, see https://skyandtelescope.org/astronomy-news/jupiter-whacked-again-japanese-astronomers-record-possible-impact/, for more information on what is the 11th confirmed observation of a fireball to burn up in its atmosphere. There was another event documented on 28 August 2023. You can read all about it at this website. There was a recent observation of a dark stain in Jupiter’s clouds that may point to an impact earlier this year. Check it out (with image) at this website.
Solar observations continue as weather and circumstances allow. One may view images during our Solar Cycle Observation Program (2020-2026) by visiting pvamu.edu/pvso.
The PVSO complex has 3 domes, including the existing “Classic” Solar Observatory, and two new domes. For updates on this progress check out https://www.pvamu.edu/pvso/cosmic-corner/project-summary-2/. Also, more information and images can be viewed at https://sites.google.com/view/saganti-astro/home. The two newer domes contain our Meade 16-inch advanced telescope (east dome, an Astrohaven clamshell-type dome) and a 0.6 meter (24-inch) PlaneWave Corrected Dall-Kirkham telescope (west dome, an Ash dome). The design features these two domes situated east and west of a visitor’s center, which is immediately north of the existing Solar Observatory.