What's in the Sky Tonight?

JULY 2025

July 3: Earth at Aphelion
At around 19:54 UTC, the Earth will reach aphelion—the point in its orbit farthest from the Sun.

July 4: Conjunction of the Moon and Mars

July 10: Buck Moon
July's Full Moon is known as the Buck Moon, signifying the new antlers that emerge on deer buck's foreheads around this time. This year, it falls at 20:36 UTC on July 10.

July 16: Conjunction of the Moon and Saturn

July 21: Conjunction of the Moon and Venus

July 23: Conjunction of the Moon and Jupiter

July 24: New Moon

July 28: Conjunction of the Moon and Mars

July 28/29: Delta Aquarids Meteor Shower
The Delta Aquarids is an average shower that can produce up to 20 meteors per hour at its peak. It peaks this year on the night of July 28 and morning of July 29. The crescent moon will set early in the evening, leaving dark skies for what should be an excellent show.

ASTRONOMY BINOCULARS
A mini telescope you can take anywhere

If you love sky gazing, you have to have a pair of astronomy binoculars! Binoculars are a fantastic alternative to telescopes—inexpensive, lightweight, and portable. For city dwellers where there is a lot of light pollution, binoculars are essential if you want to see much of anything.

Binoculars enlarge and brighten the beauty and immensity of the night sky. You can see the detail of the moon's craters, the phases of Venus, the moons and stripes of Jupiter, the awesome jewels that dot the Milky Way, nebulae, star clusters, and comets when they're passing near.

Our favorite astonomy binoculars is the Celestron SkGiyMaster Giant 15x70 Binoculars. These are excellent as well:

ANOTHER GREAT ASTRONOMICAL TOOL:

THE PLANISPHERE
A year-round, real-time sky map

A planisphere is a rotating star chart that allows you to dial in the entire visible sky for any day and time of the year and with great precision. It has been called an analog star computer and was considered magical in ancient times.

Planispheres show the brightest stars, constellations, notable galaxies and nebulae, as well as the path of the Milky Way. The plane of the ecliptic is also shown, which reveals the pathway of the planets as they appear to move across the night sky.

Purchase a planisphere for $7.95