Astrophiz 174: Dr Ian Musgrave’s July SkyGuide Moon Phases: The Full Moon is Monday, July 3. Last Quarter is July 10. New Moon is July 18. First Quarter is July 26. The Moon is at perigee, when it is closest to the Earth, on the 5th. Summary: Most planetary action is in the evening skies, apart from Jupiter looking magnificent in the mornings, and Venus and Mars are nice in the evenings this month, with Mercury returning to evening skies later in the month. Till then, Mercury is lost in the morning twilight. Evening Skies: Venus is prominent from the evening twilight to early evening, is closest to Mars on the 1st and remains close to Mars for the rest of the first week of July. Venus and Mars are both coming closer to the bright star Regulus. Saturn is now rising around just before 10 pm local time and is close to the moon on the 6th. Sirius is still prominent low in the western sky. Scorpius is readily visible in in the east. Morning Skies: Jupiter is prominent in the morning sky. Saturn climbs higher in the morning skies and is rising just before 10 pm local time. Saturn is close to the Moon on the 6th. On July 7 the Earth is at aphelion, the waning Moon near Saturn in the morning sky Southern Delta Aquariid Meteor Shower: The Southern Delta Aquariids meteor shower runs from 12 July to 23 August, peaking on Sunday 30 July, with faint meteors visible about every 4-5 minutes. Best time will be 2am-3am on Sunday 30 July when the moon is sufficiently low in the sky. For Charts maps and more text info, always check out Ian’s ‘Astroblog’ and ‘Southern Skywatch’ websites via your fav search engine.