Tsula's Sky Adventure | July 2026 Night Sky Guide

This is my monthly astronomical calendar for July 2026, Tsula's Sky Adventure. July 1, at dawn see Mars between the Pleiades star cluster just 4.5° above it and Aldebaran below it. Which looks redder to you—Mars or Aldebaran? July 4 at dawn Mars will be 7' below Uranus low in the northeast. Mars will be magnitude 1.3 while Uranus will be right at the limit of naked eye visibility at magnitude 5.8. In the telescope Mars will appear 4.5" and Uranus will appear 3.5". July 6, the earth will be at aphelion 94.5 million miles away from the sun. July 9 at dusk look west to see Venus 1° above Regulus. Venus will be magnitude -4.1 while Regulus is magnitude 1.4. On July 11 at dawn Mars and Aldebaran will be in a line with the crescent moon above and above the Moon the Pleiades. July 14, the moon will be just 15.3 hours old from New Orleans just after sunset and a little over 17 hours old on the west coast of the US. Low on the horizon 20 minutes after sunset. If you manage to see the 15.3 hour old moon please let me know because you may have broken a record held by Stephen James O’Meara who saw a 15 hour 32 minute old moon with his naked eyes in 1990. July 16, the Moon will be just 1.25° lower left of Regulus at dusk. Look west 45 minutes after sunset. July 17 you can look west at sunset to see the waxing crescent moon 6° from Venus. July 27 at dawn Mercury will be magnitude 1.1 about 75 minutes before sunrise and visible to the naked eyes. Also Pluto will reach opposition and magnitude 14.5. You can find it in the constellation Capricornus. Meteor shower, the southern Delta Aquarid, peaks the night of July 30. This meteor shower is always best seen from the southern hemisphere but will be mostly washed out by the moon one day past full. Comet 10P/Tempel2 will continue to brighten. Keep an eye on Corona Borealis to see if T Coronae will ever go nova or make a complete liar out of me. The object of the month is M8, or Messier 8, also known as the lagoon nebula, a beautiful bright emission nebula surrounding a star cluster, located approximately 6° west and north a little bit of Kaus Borealis, the star marking the top of the Teapot asterism in the constellation Sagittarius.