July 1, 2026
Steady Sun
If the Sun were to suddenly wink out of existence (which is impossible), we wouldn’t know it for more than eight minutes. The Sun is 93 million miles away, and it takes light more than eight minutes to cross that distance.
July 2, 2026
Mars and Uranus
Mars is low in the east-northeast at dawn, and looks like a modestly bright star. Tomorrow, much fainter Uranus will be quite close to the lower left of Mars, so both of them will fit in a binocular field of view. Uranus will stand closer above Mars on Saturday.
July 3, 2026
Summer Triangle
Vega, the brightest star of Lyra, the harp, is high in the east at nightfall. Deneb, the tail of Cygnus, the swan, is to the lower left of Vega, with Altair, the brightest star of Aquila, the eagle, a little farther to the lower right of Vega.
July 4, 2026
Anniversary Stars
Bellatrix, Spica, and Omega Herculis are all good “semiquincentennial” stars. All three of them are roughly 250 light-years away, so we see them as they looked roughly 250 years ago, near the time of the Declaration of Independence.
July 5, 2026
Aphelion
Earth will reach its farthest point from the Sun for the entire year around midday tomorrow. We will be about 3.1 million miles farther than we were at closest approach, in early January.
July 6, 2026
Moon and Saturn
The planet Saturn, which looks like a bright star, stands close to the Moon the next couple of mornings. Tomorrow, it will be to the lower left of the Moon at dawn. It will be a little farther to the right of the Moon on Wednesday.
July 7, 2026
Venus and Regulus
Venus, the brilliant Evening Star, nuzzles the lion the next few nights. It will pass quite close to Regulus, Leo’s brightest star. At their closest, they will be just one degree apart, which is roughly the width of a pencil held at arm’s length.
July 8, 2026
61 Cygni
61 Cygni was the first star to have its distance accurately measured. It’s 11.4 light-years away, in Cygnus, which is in the east at nightfall. 61 Cygni is to the lower right of Deneb, the swan’s brightest star, and is barely visible to the eye alone.
July 9, 2026
The Coathanger
The Coathanger is a pattern of 10 stars in Vulpecula, the fox, and is a good target for binoculars. Sweep them from the bright star Altair, low in the east at nightfall, toward brighter Vega, far to its upper left. The Coathanger is a third of the way along that line.
July 10, 2026
Moon, Mars, Aldebaran
The Moon and the planet Mars line up with the star Aldebaran in tomorrow’s dawn sky. Mars looks like a bright star to the lower right of the Moon. Aldebaran is even brighter, about the same distance to the lower right of Mars.
July 11, 2026
Spanning the Galaxy
The center of the Milky Way Galaxy is in good view as night falls. It’s in the constellation Sagittarius, whose most prominent stars form the outline of a teapot. The center of the galaxy is immersed in puffs of “steam” that appear to rise from the teapot.
July 12, 2026
Delphinus
Tiny Delphinus, the dolphin, is in the east at nightfall. Its brightest stars really do outline the shape of a dolphin. Sualocin is the brightest star in the pattern, and represents the dolphin’s back.
July 13, 2026
Summer Milky Way
The Milky Way shines at its best on summer nights. Right now, it arcs across the east as the sky gets fully dark, and passes high overhead later on. Under dark skies, it looks like a hazy band of light.
July 14, 2026
New Moon
The Moon is new today at 4:43 a.m. CDT. The new Moon occurs when the Moon passes between Earth and the Sun, so it is too close to the Sun to observe. It will return to view tomorrow evening as a thin crescent quite low in the sky during twilight.
July 15, 2026
Zubeneschamali
Libra, the balance scales, is in the southwest this evening, to the upper right of the celestial scorpion. Libra’s brightest star represents one of the scorpion’s claws. It is called Zubeneschamali, from an Arabic name meaning “the northern claw.”
July 16, 2026
Moon and Companions
The Evening Star and the heart of the lion are close to the crescent Moon in early evening. The lion’s heart, the star Regulus, is almost touching the Moon. Much brighter Venus, the Evening Star, is farther to the upper left of the Moon.
July 17, 2026
Moon and Venus
The crescent Moon is in the west as darkness falls. The brilliant planet Venus, the Evening Star, is close to the right. Venus outshines every other planet and star in the night sky.
July 18, 2026
Nova Watch
T Coronae Borealis has been flaring up every 80 years. The last outburst was in 1946, so it’s due for the next one. Corona Borealis is a semicircle of stars high in the southwest at nightfall. T Coronae is close to the top left end of the semicircle.
July 19, 2026
Sagitta
Sagitta, the arrow, slices through the Milky Way. It is one of the smallest of the 88 constellations. As darkness falls this evening, look for it in the east, between Deneb and Altair, two of the stars of the Summer Triangle.
July 20, 2026
Moon and Spica
Spica, the leading light of the constellation Virgo, the maiden, stands above the Moon at nightfall. It is a binary star system, with at least one of its members fated to explode as a supernova.
July 21, 2026
First Quarter Moon
The Moon reaches its first-quarter phase today at 6:05 a.m. CDT. It stands at a right angle to the line that connects Earth and the Sun, so sunlight illuminates exactly half of the lunar hemisphere that faces our way.
July 22, 2026
Mars and the Bull
Mars is inching into the morning sky. It looks like a fairly bright orange star in the east at dawn. The star Elnath, the tip of one of the horns of Taurus, is to the left of Mars. The bull’s eye, Aldebaran, is to the right. It’s brighter than Mars, but about the same color.
July 23, 2026
Moon and Antares
Antares, the leading light of the scorpion, is in good view tonight, to the left of the Moon as night falls. The star is classified as a red supergiant. It is much larger, heavier, and brighter than the Sun.
July 24, 2026
Powerful Jets
Cygnus is in the eastern sky at nightfall. The first confirmed black hole, Cygnus X-1, is about half way between the swan’s bill and the intersection of its body and wings. The black hole is encircled by a bright disk of superhot gas.
July 25, 2026
M22
M22, a cluster of a half-million stars, stands above teapot-shaped Sagittarius, which wheels low across the south tonight. The cluster is well to the left of the Moon at nightfall, and is visible through binoculars. It is about 10,000 light-years away.
July 27, 2026
Vindemiatrix
Vindemiatrix, the third-brightest star of Virgo, is in the southwest at nightfall. It is far to the upper right of Spica, Virgo’s brightest star. Vindemiatrix is a bloated star that has completed the “prime” portion of its life.
July 28, 2026
Gliese 710
Gliese 710, in Serpens, the serpent, is about half way up the south-southeastern sky at nightfall. You need a telescope to see it. But it is moving toward us, and in about 1.3 million years it will be the brightest star in the night sky.
July 29, 2026
Morning Dominance
Saturn has a big region of the morning sky practically to itself. The planet climbs into good view after midnight, and is high in the south at first light. It looks like a bright golden star. You have to scan a long way to find a planet or star that rivals it.
July 30, 2026
Standard Candle
Eta Aquilae is high above the Moon in early evening, near Altair, its constellation’s brightest star. The star is the prototype of a special class that pulses like a beating heart. Astronomers use those stars to measure the scale of the entire universe.
July 31, 2026
Evening Stars
Several prominent stars highlight summer’s evening skies. Arcturus is high in the west at nightfall, with slightly fainter Vega overhead. The Big Dipper is in the northwest, and Antares, the heart of the scorpion, hunkers low in the south.