What’s Up in the Night Sky – July 2025
from In-The-Sky.org
Moon Phases
New Moon – June 25
First Quarter – July 2
Full – July 10 – Full Buck Moon
Last Quarter – July 17
New Moon – July 24
First Quarter – August 1
Close Encounters
June 29: Moon and Mars have a near miss. A 5-day old Moon passes just below Mars in the western sky.
July 3: Another near miss. The 8-day old Moon passes below Spica in the southern sky.
July 3: Mercury reaches its greatest elongation from the Sun (largest separation from the Sun) but will still be less than 16° above the setting Sun in the western sky.
July 16: An early morning close approach of the nearly last-quarter Moon, Saturn, and Neptune.
July 21: An old crescent Moon and Venus have a wide conjunction in the predawn sky, rising together around 3am.
July 22: Two days from new, the thin crescent Moon rises with Jupiter around 4:15am.
July 25: Pluto is at opposition to Earth in Capricornus. At magnitude 15.0 it will be indistinguishable from nearby background stars.
Major Meteor Showers – from https://www.amsmeteors.org/meteor-showers/meteor-shower-calendar/
The Southern Delta Aquariids is best seen from the southern tropics this shower is active from July 18 through August 12 and peaks for a week near the middle of this time (end of July). Not known for persistent trains of fireballs, the median rate of 25/hour consists mainly of faint meteors. Parent body is believed to be comet 96P/Machholz.
The Alpha Capricornids are active from July 12 through August 12 with a peak centered around July 30. Known for producing bright fireballs but the rate is only 5 per hour. Parent body is Comet 169P/NEAT.
The Perseids are active from July 17 to August 23 with a peak near August 12 and are one of the best-known meteor showers. Hourly rate at the peak is near 100 per hour but a bright Moon in the sky this year will reduce the number of visible meteors to maybe 25%. Parent body Comet 109P/Swift-Tuttle.
Planet Watch for June 28, 2025
Mercury is a faint evening object on this date, setting shortly after 10pm. By late July it is moving to pass between the Earth and the Sun and no longer be visible in the evening sky for this apparition.
Venus rises at 3am and is magnitude -4 for most of the month.
Mars is in Leo and ending its most recent apparition. Mars sets at Midnight tonight and by 10:30pm by the end of July.
Jupiter just passed through solar conjunction on June 24 and is not visible. By the end of July Jupiter rises in the morning sky about 2 hours before the Sun.
Saturn rises in the east around 12:45am at the end of June and around 10:45pm at the end of July. Opposition for Saturn is September 21. The southern faces of the rings are coming into view, even if only at about a 4° tilt from our vantage point.
Uranus reached solar conjunction on May 17 and is not visible, being only 5° above the horizon at dawn in late June and 38° above the horizon in late July.
Neptune is a very faint object in the east at magnitude 7.8, rising around 12:30am in late June and rising about 10:40pm in late July.