Updated July 7, 2025
NOTE: you can now follow the discussion below with a free planetarium program called Stellarium. To access the web version, go to https://stellarium-web.org/ and allow it to access your location to provide you with an accurate simulation of your nighttime sky. Experiment with it to learn more about the constellations mentioned below, and more.
During these mid-July nights, the stars and constellations are out in full visibility in the evening sky. The spring stars and constellations have begun to sink out of view in the western sky. Leo, with Mars, is visible low in the west as it gets dark. Mars and Regulus are moving slowly apart as Regulus sinks steadily toward the western horizon day by day with Mars lingering longer. Mars and Regulus make a diagonal line that points approximately to Mercury, also lingering low in the west northwestern sky. Mars (magnitude +1.5) is followed by Denebola (magnitude +2.1), which is about 10 degrees from the Red Planet. Mars sets shortly after dark.
The Big Dipper is starting to pivot to its “scooping” position high in the northwest during these mid-summer evenings. It sinks toward the horizon as the evening progresses. Along the northern horizon just after dark is Cassiopeia. It has passed its lowest evening position of the year and is starting to slowly climb again as the summer progresses. It is visible by late evening low in the north-northeast; it is higher in the sky the further north one observes. The constellation is highest in the north at the first light of dawn.
The waxing gibbous Moon is currently making its way through Scorpius. This evening (7 July), it rises in the late afternoon and is low in the southeast at dusk, with orange Antares to the upper right of the Moon.
Altair is relatively high in the east southeast after dark. Just about it, by about one degree, is Tarazed. At magnitude +2.7, it is considerably dimmer than Altair, at+0.7 magnitude. Altair is nearby as far as cosmic distances are concerned. It sits at 17 light years distance. Tarazed is an orange giant star, 170 times as luminous as Altair, but much further away at 380 light years distance. Altair is a little over 10 times as luminous as our own Sun.
The rest of the Summer Triangle continues to rise higher with each passing evening. Vega leads the way, being high in the east northeast at nightfall; this is followed by Deneb below and left of Vega. Around one hour after sunset (at middle northern latitudes), the equally bright stars of Vega and Arcturus, are at equal heights above their respective horizons: Arcturus high in the Southwest, and Vega high in the east.
Looking south, the constellation of Scorpius is in its prime viewing position. Antares is almost due south as it gets completely dark and is distinguished by its fiery orange color. To the right and slightly higher are three blue-white stars making an almost vertical line. This marks the head of Scorpius, with the heart marked by Antares. The entire Scorpius constellation curls downward from Antares, levels just above the horizon, then curls back up to form the tail. At the tail tip is a relatively bright pair of stars, Shaula and Lesath, nicknamed “the Cat’s Eyes”. They glow at magnitudes 1.6 and 2.6, respectively. This whole assembly is higher in the sky as one goes south in latitude.
The Moon, waxing toward Full, passes into Sagittarius by the evening of July 8th. By the 9th, it is located inside the teapot. The Moon is Full one night later, on the 10th, at exactly at 3:37 pm CDT. The Full Moon of July is traditionally called the “Buck Moon” because at this time of year, the antlers of bucks (male deer) are fully grown. The Full Moon sits below and left of the Teapot asterism of Sagittarius.
The start of the astronomical summer season in the northern hemisphere occurred 2-1/2 weeks ago and the Sun has revered course and is starting to move southward again. Daylight was longest on that day in the northern hemisphere; now days are shortening again. However, the latest sunset in the northern hemisphere happens one to two weeks after the solstice (and this has already passed). In addition to all this, Earth reached aphelion, or its most distant point in its orbit from the Sun, on July 3. On this day, the Earth was 2% farther from the Sun than average. The tilt of the Earth on its axis overrides this, leading to this time of year being the hottest of the year in the northern hemisphere. Read more about the Summer Solstice and its interesting aspects at the Time and Date website.
The predawn sky resembles the mid-evening sky in October. The stars and constellations of summer occupy the western half of the celestial sphere and those of autumn the eastern half. The Great Square of Pegasus stands on one of its ends high in the east southeast and is nearly level high in the south at dawn. On July 12, Taurus gets a second, blazing eye as Venus situates itself on the opposite side of the “V” of Taurus as Aldebaran. Below and left of these, Jupiter is just starting to make a reappearance in the predawn sky, low in the east northeast 30 minutes before sunrise, in the feet of Gemini.
Saturn is getting higher in the southern sky, rising around midnight local time. It is situated some 50 to 60 degrees above and right of Venus just before dawn.
Go to “This Week’s Sky at a Glance”, where you will find the current “Sky at a Glance” (now for the week ending July 12). There are lots of links to interesting news stories and additional observing projects that one can look into.
The Sun has been quiet now for several weeks and continues to show low activity with little indication of any significant activity over at least the next 3 days. Observations have resumed, as weather and circumstances allow, at the PVSO. The most recent images from Prairie View Solar Observatory can be viewed at https://www.pvamu.edu/pvso/solar-observations-2025/.
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Images of the recent total lunar eclipse (14 March 2025) 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. Lots more information can be found at Sky and Telescope’s eclipse page.
Over a year ago, 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.
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. We plan to organize a campaign to watch for fireballs in Venus’ atmosphere early this summer; check back for more details in the near future. There was another event documented on 28 August 2023. You can read all about it at this website.
The Perseverance rover continues to perform wonderful feats of science, from finding evidence of a raging river, to making 10 g of pure oxygen from the Martian air to watching a small drone helicopter take its 51st flight over the Martian wasteland. For more information on it and other activity on Mars, visit mars.jpl.nasa.gov. Also, Curiosity has returned some beautiful sunset pictures of cirrus-like clouds in the Martian sky.
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/. We are currently experiencing an extended spell of inclement weather, preventing much observing, but as conditions improve we plan to resume nighttime observations along with regular solar observations. Information on all the eclipses that will occur in 2022 can be found at this link.
The PVO 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 new 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. Work is planned to resume on the 24-inch in early 2024.