What’s Up: July 2025 Skywatching Tips from NASA

NASA · July 2

A.M./P.M. Planet Watching, Plus the Eagle Constellation

Mars shines in the evening, and is joined briefly by Mercury. Jupiter joins Venus as the month goes on. And all month, look for Aquila the eagle.

Skywatching Highlights

All Month – Planet Visibility:

Venus: Shines brightly in the east each morning during the couple of hours before sunrise, with the Pleiades and bright stars Aldebaran and Capella.
Mars: Sits in the west, about 20 degrees above the horizon as twilight fades. Sets a couple of hours after dark.
Jupiter: Starts to become visible low in the east in the hour before sunrise after mid-month. You’ll notice it rises a bit higher each day through August, quickly approaching closer to Venus each morning.
Mercury: Visible very low in the west (10 degrees or lower) the first week or so in July. Find it for a short time before it sets, beginning 30-45 minutes after sunset.
Saturn: Rises around midnight and climbs to a point high in the south as dawn approaches.

Daily Highlights:

July 1 – 7 – Mercury is relatively bright and easy to spot without a telescope, beginning about 30-45 minutes after sunset for the first week or so of July. You will need an unobstructed view toward the horizon, and note that it sets within an hour after the Sun.

July 21 & 22 – Moon, Venus, & Jupiter – Look toward the east this morning to find a lovely scene, with the crescent Moon and Venus, plus several bright stars. And if you have a clear view toward the horizon, Jupiter is there too, low in the sky.

July 28 – Moon & Mars – The crescent Moon appears right next to Mars this evening after sunset.

All month – Constellation: Aquila – The Eagle constellation, Aquila, appears in the eastern part of the sky during the first half of the night. Its brightest star, Altair, is the southernmost star in the Summer Triangle, which is an easy-to-locate star pattern in Northern Hemisphere summer skies.

Transcript

What’s Up for July? Mars shines in the evening sky, sixty years after its first close-up,

July Planet Viewing

Venus brightens your mornings, and the eagle soars overhead.

First up, Mercury is visible for a brief time following sunset for the first week of July. Look for it very low in the west 30 to 45 minutes after sundown. It sets within the hour after that, so be on the ball if you want to catch it!

Mars is visible for the first hour or two after it gets dark. You’ll find it sinking lower in the sky each day and looking a bit dimmer over the course of the month, as our two planets’ orbits carry them farther apart. The crescent Moon appears right next to Mars on the 28th.

An illustrated sky chart shows a view of the western sky 45 minutes after sunset. The scene features a twilight background with faint stars and labeled compass directions:

Sky chart showing Mercury and Mars in the western sky following sunset in early July.

NASA/JPL-Caltech

July is the 60th anniversary of the first successful flyby of Mars, by NASA’s Mariner 4 spacecraft in 1965. Mariner 4 sent back the first photos of another planet from deep space, along with the discovery that the Red Planet has only a very thin, cold atmosphere.

Next, Saturn is rising late in the evening, and by dawn it’s high overhead to the south.

Looking to the morning sky, Venus shines brightly all month. You’ll find it in the east during the couple of hours before sunrise, with the Pleiades and bright stars Aldebaran and Capella. And as the month goes on, Jupiter makes its morning sky debut,

An illustrated sky chart shows a view of the eastern sky 1 hour before sunrise. The scene features a dark twilight background with faint stars and labeled compass directions:

Sky chart showing Venus in the morning sky in July.

NASA/JPL-Caltech

rising in the hour before sunrise and appearing a little higher each day.

By the end of the month, early risers will have the two brightest planets there greeting them each morning. They’re headed for a super-close meetup in mid-August, and the pair will be a fixture of the a.m. sky through late this year. Look for them together with the crescent moon on the 21st and 22nd.

Aquila, The Eagle

From July and into August, is a great time to observe the constellation Aquila, the eagle.

An illustrated sky chart shows a view of the eastern sky around 10pm in July. The scene features a dark, nighttime background with faint stars. Near center are two shapes — patterns of stars, connected by faint purple lines. At center is the Summer Triangle, with its three bright stars, Vega, Altair, and Deneb, labeled. On its left side is the Aquila constellation. Altair is its brightest star and the eagle's right with points upward, toward Vega. Finally, an arrow points toward the left, indicating the direction of north on the sky. The eagle appears to be flying toward the north.

Sky chart showing the shape and orientation of the constellation Aquila in the July evening sky. Aquila’s brightest star, Altair, is part of the Summer Triangle star pattern.

NASA/JPL-Caltech

This time of year, it soars high into the sky in the first half of the night. Aquila represents the mythical eagle that was a powerful servant and messenger of the Greek god Zeus. The eagle carried his lightning bolts and was a symbol of his power as king of the gods.

To find Aquila in the sky, start by locating its brightest star, Altair. It’s one the three bright stars in the Summer Triangle, which is super easy to pick out during summer months in the Northern Hemisphere. Altair is the second brightest of the three, and sits at the southernmost corner of the triangle.

The other stars in Aquila aren’t as bright as Altair, which can make observing the constellation challenging if you live in an area with a lot of light pollution. It’s easier, though, if you know how the eagle is oriented on the sky. Imagine it’s flying toward the north with its wings spread wide, its right wing pointed toward Vega. If you can find Altair, and Aquila’s next brightest star, you can usually trace out the rest of the spread-eagle shape from there. The second half of July is the best time of the month to observe Aquila, as the Moon doesn’t rise until later then, making it easier to pick out the constellation’s fainter stars.

Observing the constellation Aquila makes for a worthy challenge in the July night sky. And once you’re familiar with its shape, it’s hard not to see the mythical eagle soaring overhead among the summertime stars.

Here are the phases of the Moon for July.

The main phases of the Moon are illustrated in a horizontal row, with the first quarter moon on July 2, full moon on July 10, third quarter on July 17, and the new moon on July 24.

The phases of the Moon for July 2025.

NASA/JPL-Caltech

You can stay up to date on all of NASA’s missions exploring the solar system and beyond at science.nasa.gov. I’m Preston Dyches from NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, and that’s What’s Up for this month.

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