JULY 2025 (Northern Hemisphere)
2 – First Quarter Moon at 19:29 UT.
3 – Earth at Aphelion (farthest from Sun) at 20h UT. The Sun-Earth distance is 1.016644 a.u. or about 152.1 million km.
3 – Moon near Spica at 20h UT (evening sky). Occultation visible from Antarctica, southern Argentina, southern Chile and Falkland Islands.
4 – Mercury at easternmost elongation at 5h UT (26° from Sun, evening sky). Mag. 0.5.
5 – Moon at apogee (farthest from Earth) at 2h UT (distance 404,627km; angular size 29.5′).
6 – Saturn 0.97° S of Neptune at 7h UT (morning sky). Mags. 1.0 and 7.9.
7 – Moon near Antares at 16h UT (evening sky). Occultation visible from Antarctica, western Australia, South Africa and Namibia.
10 – Full Moon at 20:38 UT.
16 – Moon near Saturn at 8h UT (morning sky). Mag. 0.9.
18 – Last Quarter Moon at 0:38 UT.
20 – Moon near the Pleiades at 12h UT (morning sky).
20 – Moon at perigee (closest to Earth) at 13:53 UT (distance 368,041km; angular size 32.5′).
21 – Moon near Venus at 19h UT (morning sky). Mag. –4.0.
23 – Moon near Jupiter at 6h UT (evening sky). Mag. –1.9.
24 – New Moon at 19:11 UT. Start of lunation 1269.
24 – Pluto at opposition at 21h UT. Mag. 14.4.
26 – Moon near Regulus at 22h UT (evening sky).
28 – Moon near Mars at 19h UT (evening sky). Mag. 1.6.
31 – Southern Delta Aquarid meteor shower peaks. Active from July 12 to August 23. Produces medium speed, faint meteors (about 15 to 20 per hour). Best seen from southern latitudes.
31 – Moon near Spica at 4h UT (evening sky). Occultation visible from Antarctica.
31 – Mercury at inferior conjunction with the Sun at 24h UT. The innermost planet passes into the morning sky.
More sky events and links at http://Skymaps.com/skycalendar/
All times in Universal Time (UT). (USA Eastern Standard Time = UT – 5 hours.)
More sky events and links at http://Skymaps.com/skycalendar/
Visit my YouTube Page for captures of many of the Night Sky events for each month.
MOON PHASES
New Moon: 24th
First Quarter: 2nd
Full Moon: 10th
Last Quarter: 18th
EASILY SEEN BY THE NAKED EYE
Altair Aql Brightest star in Aquila. Name means “the flying eagle”. Dist=16.7 ly.
Arcturus Boo Orange, giant K star. Name means “bear watcher”. Dist=36.7 ly.
δ Cephei Cep Cepheid prototype. Mag varies between 3.5 & 4.4 over 5.366 days. Mag 6 companion.
Deneb Cyg Brightest star in Cygnus. One of the greatest known supergiants. Dist=1,400±200 ly.
α Herculis Her Semi-regular variable. Magnitude varies between 3.1 & 3.9 over 90 days. Mag 5.4 companion.
Vega Lyr The 5th brightest star in the sky. A blue-white star. Dist=25.0 ly.
Antares Sco Red, supergiant star. Name means “rival of Mars”. Dist=135.9 ly.
Polaris UMi The North Pole Star. A telescope reveals an unrelated mag 8 companion star. Dist=433 ly.
Spica Vir Latin name means “ear of wheat” and shown held in Virgo’s left hand. Dist=250 ly.
SEEN BY TELESCOPE
ε Boötis Boo Red giant star (mag 2.5) with a blue-green mag 4.9 companion. Sep=2.8″. Difficult to split.
M94 CVn Compact nearly face-on spiral galaxy. Dist=15 million ly.
M51 CVn Whirlpool Galaxy. First recognised to have spiral structure. Dist=25 million ly.
M64 Com Black-Eye Galaxy. Discovered by J.E. Bode in 1775 – “a small, nebulous star”.
Albireo Cyg Beautiful double star. Contrasting colours of orange and blue-green. Sep=34.4″.
61 Cygni Cyg Attractive double star. Mags 5.2 & 6.1 orange dwarfs. Dist=11.4 ly. Sep=28.4″.
γ Delphini Del Appear yellow & white. Mags 4.3 & 5.2. Dist=100 ly. Struve 2725 double in same field.
β Lyrae Lyr Eclipsing binary. Mag varies between 3.3 & 4.3 over 12.940 days. Fainter mag 7.2 blue star.
M57 Lyr Ring Nebula. Magnificent object. Smoke-ring shape. Dist=4,100 ly.
M23 Sgr Elongated star cluster. Telescope required to show stars. Dist=2,100 ly.
M20 Sgr Trifid Nebula. A telescope shows 3 dust lanes trisecting nebula. Dist=5,200 ly.
M21 Sgr A fine and impressive cluster. Dist=4,200 ly.
M17 Sgr Omega Nebula. Contains the star cluster NGC 6618. Dist=4,900 ly.
M11 Sct Wild Duck Cluster. Resembles a globular through binoculars. V-shaped. Dist=5,600 ly.
M16 Ser Eagle Nebula. Requires a telescope of large aperture. Dist=8,150 ly.
M81 UMa Beautiful spiral galaxy visible with binoculars. Easy to see in a telescope.
M82 UMa Close to M81 but much fainter and smaller.
M27 Vul Dumbbell Nebula. Large, twin-lobed shape. Most spectacular planetary. Dist=975 ly.
M87 Vir Supergiant galaxy with supermassive black hole at its core. Dist=53.5 million ly.