Sky Events
July 2024
July 1: Conjunction of the Moon and Mars, with an angular separation of 4°05′
July 3: Conjunction of the Moon and Jupiter, with an angular separation of 5°01′
July 5: The Earth is at aphelion, the farthest point from the Sun in its orbit this year.
July 5: New Moon
July 6: Ceres is at opposition.
July 13: First Quarter Moon
July 13: Lunar occultation of Spica
July 21: Full Moon
July 23: Pluto at opposition
July 24: Conjunction of the Moon and Saturn, with an angular separation of only 23′
July 27: Third Quarter Moon
July 30: Conjunction of the Moon with both Jupiter and Mars
Planets in July
Mercury: Evening planet, not optimally placed. Best mid-month.
Venus: Evening planet, not easily visible at present.
Mars: Morning planet near Jupiter.
Jupiter: Improving morning planet. Impressive scenes towards end of July with Jupiter close to Mars and crescent Moon, against the stars of Taurus.
Saturn: Morning planet, best visibility occurs at the end of the month.
August 2024
August 4: New Moon
August 12: The Perseid meteor shower reaches its peak activity of about 150 meteors per hour.
August 12: First Quarter Moon
August 13: The globular cluster M15 in Pegasus is well-placed for observation.
August 14: Conjunction of Jupiter and Mars, with an angular separation of 18′.
August 14: The globular cluster M2 in Aquarius is well-placed for observation.
August 19: Full Moon
August 20: Conjunction of the Moon and Saturn, with an angular separation of 27′
August 26: Third Quarter Moon
August 27: Conjunction of the Moon with both Jupiter and Mars
Planets in August
Mercury: Inferior conjunction August 19, best seen in morning sky at end of month.
Venus: Evening planet, setting only 40 mins after the Sun all month.
Mars: Improving morning planet, forming interesting patterns with Aldebaran and Jupiter.
Jupiter: Improving morning planet in Taurus.
Saturn: Improving morning planet.