Monthly Night Sky Report: July 2025

            Introduction

    While hot, June was a decent month for stargazers. I enjoyed observing the Moon go through its phases and pass close to the planets, as well as the ever-changing surface of the Sun. I also enjoyed watching satellites cruise by overhead and even saw a meteor break apart just above my home. With all of these sites, my favorite experience during June was sitting on my back patio during one of the cooler nights and looking up. As I am writing this, there are still a couple of days left in June. Weather permitting, I plan to set up my scope to view the wonders of the universe from my home.

    July will bring similar weather conditions as June and will be a great time for observers to get out under the stars and observe the summer meteor showers. The Fourth of July fireworks, and the 24th of July for Utahns, will likely grab the attention of a majority of observers. I urge any observer, while already looking up, to see what constellations can be picked out in the night sky. I have a couple of quick weekend trips planned this month to locations outside of major city lights. I hope to enjoy the night sky during these trips.    

                      

Mercury

    Observers may be able to spot Mercury in the evening sky shortly before sunset during the first two weeks of July. During this time, the innermost planet will glow from 0.5 magnitude and drop to an even dimmer 1.5 magnitude by the 17th. On the 2nd, Mercury will be masquerading as the Queen Bee of the Beehive Cluster, but a clear view of the western horizon, free of any clouds and haze, will be required to see them. On the 4th, Mercury will reach its greatest eastern elongation, hovering approximately 25° from the Sun. Mercury will quickly approach the Sun, becoming lost from view in twilight. On the 31st, Mercury will be in inferior conjunction with the Sun.   

  

Venus

   Venus will be easy to spot rising above the Wasatch Front during July. The Earth's evil twin sister will rise around 4:00 AM throughout July. On the 1st, Uranus can be found nestled between the Pleiades and Venus. As the month continues, Venus will travel through Taurus, passing close to Aldebaran and the Hyades midmonth, and will finish July in Orion.        

    

Mars

    For the observers looking for planets after sunset, Mars would be the next logical target after Mercury. The Red Planet can be found a short distance to the upper left of Mercury from our vantage point. At the start of July, Mars and Regulus, the brightest star in Leo the Lion, can be found within 10° of one another. As the month progresses, the pair will drift further apart, with Mars leaving the Lion entirely. Mars won't offer much in the way of planetary detail due to its distance from the Earth, but as an unaided-eye object, it will easily grab the observer's attention with its reddish glow. By the end of July, Mars will have moved into the constellation of Virgo.    

Jupiter

Saturn

    Jupiter won't be visible until the second half of July. At this time, Jupiter will rise before the Sun in the morning sky and should be easy to spot due to its brilliance. Observers should watch for Jupiter rising above the mountains with a thin crescent moon on the 23rd. Jupiter will spend July among the stars of Gemini. Binoculars or a telescope will easily reveal the four Galilean Moons. At the same time, a telescope will also allow an observer to see the cloud bands and the Great Red Spot, as well as the shadow of the Galilean Moons as they pass in front of the planet from our vantage point.    

    Saturn rises around midnight at the beginning of July and approximately two hours earlier by the end of the month. Its rings are currently tilted in a way that makes them hard to view from Earth. However, this creates the opportunity to view the transits of the larger moons of Saturn. Several of the Saturnian Moons can also be spotted through a telescope. Neptune will be close to Saturn all month, making it easy for observers to locate this illusive planet.     

       

Neptune

Uranus

    

    Uranus will be found rising with Venus as July begins. This presents an excellent opportunity for those with binoculars and unguided telescopes to observe this planet. During the first few days of July, Uranus can be found nestled between Venus and the Pleiades in Taurus. As the month progresses, Uranus will move very little compared to the background stars, making it easy to locate night after night.  

  Neptune will rise with Saturn during July. The pair of planets can be found close together throughout the month, making it easier to locate the dim 8th planet. Saturn and Neptune can even be seen together in a single field of view if using binoculars or a low-power eyepiece. The pair will contrast nicely with Saturn's yellowish hue and the deep blue of Neptune.  

Southern Delta Aquariid Meteor Shower

   We have gone through a meteor shower dry spell, but that will be remedied in July with the Southern Delta Aquariid Meteor Shower (SDAMS). This shower will appear to radiate from the lower portion of Aquarius, which can be found rising above the eastern horizon as the Sun sets in the west on its peak date. Aquarius can be found to the right of Saturn as it rises, making it easier to locate this constellation. The SDAMS isn't the most prominent or anticipated meteor shower, but it does give observers the chance to warm up for the Perseids next month. The SDAMS will peak on the 31st with a maximum rate of 25 meteors per hour. Unfortunately, this year, Aquarius will not gain much altitude, meaning only about half of this rate should be expected to be seen. Fortunately, the Perseids are approaching their peak, with meteors from this shower becoming visible on the 17th of July. The Perseids can be seen above the northern horizon. A Moon-free night, such as the 24th of July, would be ideal for lying out under the stars and soaking up as many meteors as possible. There are also several minor meteor showers during July, increasing the likelihood of seeing a meteor in the sky. 

    There will still be a chance to see some noctilucent clouds and the Northern Lights during July. Noctilucent clouds will glow after sunset due to their high altitude. I believe I have witnessed these clouds from a dark sky location several years ago, but I am not sure. If so, they were very eerie but awesome to see nonetheless! The Northern Lights remain a possibility due to the active Sun. Aurora will likely be visible through the end of the year and perhaps part of 2026 as solar maximum winds down.  

Monthly Breakdown

July 02: First Quarter Moon 🌓
July 03: Venus and Uranus within 2°

July 04: Mercury reaches greatest eastern elongation 

July 10: Full Moon 🌕

July 16: Moon passes within 3° of Neptune

July 16: Moon passes within 4° of Saturn 

July 17: Last Quarter Moon🌗 

July 20: Moon passes within 5° of Uranus

July 21: Moon passes within 7° of Venus

July 22: Moon passes within 5° of Jupiter

July 24: New Moon 🌑

July 28: Moon passes within 2° of Mars

July 31: Southern Delta Aquariid Meteor Shower Peaks

July 31: Mercury reaches inferior conjunction with the Sun 

 

         

Now get outside and look up!

Planet images were taken by NASA.

Andrew vs. the Cosmos image was taken by Jeff Greenland.

The Milky Way and Trees image was taken by Andrew Greenland.

Orion, Taurus, and Pleiades image was taken by Andrew Greenland.

                

                

Midmonth Check-In: June 2025 and Aurora

                

  Introduction and Monthly Reminders   

    June's weather has been great for stargazing, although it is much too hot for my liking. The heat aside, the skies have been relatively clear, offering great views of the Sun, Moon, planets, stars, and deep sky objects. I have enjoyed looking up during these warm nights to look at the stars and see several satellites fly by. I was also surprised by a meteor streaking and breaking apart as it entered the Earth's atmosphere. I have also been watching for the northern lights with a few days offering a 10% chance of seeing them over Utah. Unfortunately, they haven't been visible yet from my location.

    The remaining days of June will offer observers the chance to see noctilucent clouds glowing high above the surface and after dark. We may still have a chance to see the Northern Lights over Utah in the coming weeks, as the Sun remains active. As I'm writing this, there is another decent chance to see the northern lights next week. Observers can still look forward to the Summer Solstice on the 20th and several conjunctions between the Moon and planets. 

Aurora  

       I have recently and quite frequently mentioned how active the Sun is. I have also shared several images, with my most recent one shared above, of the Sun and its many sunspots. When the Sun is at Solar Maximum, like it is now, it releases vast amounts of charged particles. These particles can then interact with the Earth's atmosphere, or any other planet or moon with an atmosphere. 

    I need to go on a science rant to explain why light is produced when particles interact, so bear with me! Depending on how long ago a science class was taken, an individual may or may not remember that an atom, the fundamental building block of matter, contains a nucleus and a surrounding cloud of protons and electrons. Different atoms contain different numbers of protons and electrons. For example, an oxygen atom with atomic number 8 comprises 8 electrons, while the tungsten atom with atomic number 74 contains 74 electrons. Atoms and molecules (a combination of atoms, ie, water has two hydrogen atoms and one oxygen atom) like to be neutral but occasionally can carry a positive or negative charge, meaning they have an uneven amount of electrons and protons. Atoms or molecules that are missing or have an extra electron are charged particles. Particles (atoms, molecules, or subatomic components) may become "excited" when interacting, meaning electrons move further away from the nucleus (higher energy orbit) and then back to a lower energy orbit. As electrons move to a lower energy orbit, a photon (light particle) is released. 

    Now that the science talk is mostly behind us, let's continue with more about the aurora! As the charged particles from the Sun interact with the atoms and molecules of the atmosphere, some of them get excited. As discussed, these excited particles can release photons, creating the aurora that we see in the night sky. This process is very similar to how neon lights work. Neon lights contain neon atoms, but other lights may contain different elements like mercury, argon, and xenon. The electricity used to power the lights excites the atoms, causing them to produce light. Separate colors are created when different elements are bombarded by varying amounts of energy. The Earth's atmosphere is mainly made up of oxygen and nitrogen, which produce their own colors. 

    The colors of the aurora are based on two things: the atoms the charged particles interact with, and the altitude at which the interaction takes place. The most common color of aurora is green. When charged particles from the Sun interact with oxygen between 60 and 190 miles of altitude, the vibrant green aurora is produced. Green is also the color that the human eye is most sensitive to. Aurora may also be red, which occurs when the charged particles interact with oxygen at higher altitudes, typically between 190 and 250 miles above the surface of Earth. Blue and purple auroras are much less common and occur when the charged particles interact with nitrogen less than 60 miles above the surface of the Earth. Yellow and pink aurora are the most uncommon colors and are a mixture of red and either green or blue aurora.

    In addition to color, auroras come in different shapes. The most common are sheets or curtains of colored sky. They may also form arcs or spirals in the sky as the charged particles travel along the Earth's magnetic field. Auroras are most common around the poles, with the north having Aurora Borealis (Northern Lights) and the south having Aurora Australis (Southern Lights). These ethereal lights are most common around the poles as the charged particles follow the magnetic field of the Earth. I urge anyone interested to purchase a bar magnet and some iron filings to see what a magnetic field looks like! Different magnets will produce different magnetic fields, with a bar magnet closely resembling that of the Earth's own magnetic field.

    I know I have shared these images on multiple occasions, but here are the best images I've captured of the aurora from Utah on 10 May 2024. 

   I have found a few resources for predicting where an aurora will be visible. The first is the Space Weather Prediction Center, provided by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), which also predicts ocean currents and atmospheric phenomena, such as weather and air quality. On my smart devices (Android phone and iPad), I use the SpaceWeatherLive app. This app shows several current images of the Sun from different satellites, solar activity, and auroral activity. It also has a map that shows where the aurora is visible and the likelihood of seeing it in a specific area. I also use My Aurora Forecast & Alerts app on my Android device. This app is supposed to notify me if there is a chance of seeing an aurora at my current location. I rely more on the SpaceWeatherLive app as My Aurora Forecast & Alerts doesn't always give me a notification. However, I appreciate the map in My Aurora Forecast & Alerts more and will switch between the apps when there is a higher chance of seeing the aurora in my location. I hope that you can view the aurora in your location soon and remember to enjoy the night sky! 

    

       

    

Now get outside and look up!