The Moon reaches the last of its four phases at 9:52 p.m. CDT today. At last quarter, sunlight illuminates half of the lunar hemisphere that faces Earth, so it looks like someone chopped the Moon down the middle.
Weekly Stargazing Tips
Provided by StarDate.org. Unless otherwise specified, viewing times are local time regardless of time zone, and are good for the entire Lower 48 states (and, generally, for Alaska and Hawaii).
July 27: Last-Quarter Moon
July 28: Dawn Meetings
The Moon dashes through a region packed with bright stars and planets the next few mornings. It will pass especially close to Mars, Jupiter, and Elnath, the tip of one of the bull's horns. Aldebaran, the bull's eye, will stay a little farther from the Moon.
July 29: Moon and Companions
The Moon and three companions form a figure that resembles a sail early tomorrow. Mars looks like a bright orange star close to the lower right of the Moon. Much brighter Jupiter is farther below the Moon, while the star Aldebaran is to the right of Jupiter.
July 30: Double Duty
The star Elnath is quite close to the Moon early tomorrow. The star's name means "the butting one," which describes its position at the tip of a horn of Taurus. A second name for the star is Beta Tauri, indicating that it's the bull's second-brightest star.
July 31: The Crown
A semicircle of stars stands high in the sky at nightfall. It is Corona Borealis, the northern crown, and it stands almost directly overhead as twilight fades. Ancient skywatchers named it for the crown of Ariadne, the daughter of King Minos of Crete.
August 1: Milky Way
The hazy band of the Milky Way arches high across the sky on mid-summer evenings. At nightfall, it stretches from almost due north, high across the east, to almost due south. It stands high overhead by midnight. You need to get away from city lights to see it.
August 2: Standing Tall
Hercules, the strong man, stands directly overhead as darkness falls tonight. It's marked by a lopsided square of stars known as the Keystone. Despite the constellation's fame, though, the stars of Hercules aren't all that bright.