Section updated: June 30th, 2025
Every month of the year, we move about 30° forward in our orbit about the Sun, and stars that once rose at midnight do so 2 hours earlier the next month. For the early night hours of this month, we will see the ecliptic crosses the equator near Virgo’s outreached left hand of Zavijava, and dives down below her toward Libra and Scorpio. It is along the ecliptic that we look for the planets, but most of them only appear near sunrise this month. Mars will struggle to stay ahead of the approaching Sun all month long as it will appear to be smaller, dimmer and further away from us. Our Milky Way galaxy will be seen emerging from the southeastern horizon. The stars in our spring sky still appear high above and are rather sparce, as our overhead views look out “above our galaxy’s main plane” to those galaxies beyond.
We will open for the 1st Night Public Viewing session this July on Thursday the 3rd to accommodate everyone’s festivities for Aphelion Day on the 4th. Aphelion is the furthest position the Earth achieves in its orbit around the Sun. It is moving at its slowest speed then. After that day, the Earth begins its orbital fall back toward the Sun, moving a bit faster and faster until it reaches perihelion on ~ Jan. 4th, when it is the closest it can be to the Sun. This speed difference is why the northern winter is the shortest season of the year, while its summer is the longest. The orbital positions are very much like a child’s swing. At the top of the arc, the swing is furthest away from the ground, and it moves the slowest then. At the bottom of the swing, it is closest and moves the fastest. Now imagine that the swing goes completely around its horizontal support bar and that its attractive source is inside the loop, between the bar and the perihelion position.
And apparently, there is to be a birthday celebration on that same day of the 4th, too. I hope everyone enjoys it.
This region is chock full of interesting things to see. We’ll check on the status of T Corona Borealis and examine the globular clusters of M3 in Canes Venatici, M5 in Serpens Caput and Hercules’ M13 & M92 , M53 in Coma Berenices along with its Coma Star Cluster. Depending upon the conditions, we can try for a few galaxies that night, or even Omega Centauri in the south. If that is visible to us, then after 9:15 pm, we could push on toward Rigel Kentaurus (a.k.a “Alpha Centauri” the next star out), or Becrux and Gacrux of the Southern Cross. (They would be a challenge through the skyglow of Ft. Lauderdale & Miami, so there is no guarantee there!) By 10 pm, those constellations toward the Milky Way Galaxy’s central bulge will be appearing to us, such as Libra (see if you can notice the supposed “greenish” tint of its star Zuben Elgenubi!), M10 & M12 in Ophiuchus the serpent bearer, and Scorpio with its Cat’s Eye Nebula (M4) and the Northern Jewel box (NGC 6231), as will the northern summer constellations, like Lyra, its star Vega and its Ring Nebula - M57. So, the summer constellations are here!
There will be a waxing gibbous Moon in the constellation of Virgo near its star Spica. Mars appears quite small and is more distant at 1.946 au away. It appears south of Leo’s tummy.
This region is chock full of interesting things to see. We’ll check on the status of T Corona Borealis and examine the globular clusters of M3 in Canes Venatici, M5 in Serpens Caput and Hercules’ M13 & M92, M53 in Coma Berenices along with its Coma Star Cluster. Depending upon the conditions, we can try for a few galaxies that night, or even Omega Centauri in the south. If that is visible to us, then after 9:15 pm, we could push on toward Rigel Kentaurus (a.k.a “Alpha Centauri” the next star out), or Becrux and Gacrux of the Southern Cross. (They would be a challenge through the skyglow of Ft. Lauderdale & Miami, so there is no guarantee there!) By 10 pm, those constellations toward the Milky Way Galaxy’s central bulge will be appearing to us, such as Libra (see if you can notice the supposed “greenish” tint of its star Zuben Elgenubi!), M10 & M12 in Ophiuchus the serpent bearer, and Scorpio with its Cat’s Eye Nebula (M4) and the Northern Jewel box (NGC 6231), as will the northern summer constellations, like Lyra, its star Vega and its Ring Nebula - M57. So, the summer constellations are here!
Mars appears quite small and is more distant at 2.025 au away. It appears south of Leo & near Virgo.
Moon-Neptune-Saturn Conjunction 🌖♆♄☌ for Wednesday, July 16th:
Moon-Mars Conjunction 🌒♂☌ for Monday, July 28th:
A conjunction is when two visible celestial objects appear noticeably close together in the sky. When this happens with the Moon, the other object provides us with a point of reference to observe the Moon’s motion across the sky. On average, the Moon moves sideways in its orbit 1.023 km/s, which amounts to its entire diameter every hour. So, if you go out once an hour, you should be able to see the change in its position and better appreciate its orbital motion.
To see this close appearance between our Moon, Neptune and Saturn on the 16th, you need to be up at 4:35 am. Then the three will appear in a straight line in the sky and be less than 3° apart. Look for them in the constellation of Pisces. And on the 28th, look in the western sky after the Sun has set at 9 pm for the crescent Moon near Mars and Zavijava, the star that represents Virgo’s outstretched left hand.
