What’s up in the night sky: July 2024

Welcome to our night sky monthly feature where we focus on easy and fun things to see in the night sky, mostly with just your eyes. This month: Lots of planets are visible before dawn, and Mercury makes an appearance in the evening sky.

All month: Yellowish Saturn is rising in the east in the middle of the night and is high in the predawn sky. 

All month: Reddish Mars is in the predawn east. 

All month: Very bright Jupiter starts the month in the predawn east but gets higher by month’s end. 

All month: Jupiter and Mars grow closer together in the predawn eastern sky as the days pass. They will be extremely close in mid-August, after which Jupiter will be higher in the sky.

All month: Early in the month, Mercury pops up barely above the western early evening horizon, and gets higher until the 22^nd, then drops back to the horizon. 

July 1: The Moon is near reddish Mars.

July 3: The Moon is near very bright Jupiter.

July 5: New Moon

July 15: Reddish Mars near bluish Uranus.  Binoculars or a telescope will likely be needed to see Uranus.

July 21: Full Moon

July 22: Mercury highest above the evening western horizon for this viewing period (greatest eastern elongation).

July 24: The Moon is near Saturn.

July 30: The Moon is near Mars.

July 30: The Moon is near Jupiter.

July 31: Southern Delta Aquariid meteor shower peak. A medium-strength shower (~20 to 25 meteors per hour from a dark site) from the Southern Hemisphere. Poor shower from the Northern Hemisphere. Moonlight from a waning crescent Moon will interfere some in the pre-dawn hours.