Beautiful constellations in short July nights: 4 moons of Jupiter, the galactic centre of the Milky Way, nebulae and luminous noctilucent clouds

Stargazing tips for July 2021

The warm July nights offer little time to observe planets, stars, the Milky Way and other celestial phenomena: The dark night lasts just two to three hours this month. It is not dark enough until around midnight, and dawn already sets in again between two and three o'clock. At least: At the end of the month there is improvement in sight: It is really dark at 0:00 a.m. and remains so until around 3:00 a.m.

Find out which stars and planets you can observe during this time in our Sky Guide for July 2021. A summary of special constellations and observation tips is already available here!

Perpendicular Milky Way

In the short, moonless nights of July, the Milky Way shows its perhaps most beautiful side: the galactic centre of our star system with the densest collection of stars rises almost vertically in the southern sky. You should have particularly good chances around 10 July: Then there is a new moon and thus dark enough to recognise the delicate band of stars.
In the south of the Milky Way: the constellation Sagittarius. With a telescope you can spot three beautiful deep sky objects in Sagittarius: the Lagoon Nebula, the Trifid Nebula and the Omega Nebula.

Summer Triangle at the zenith

Also nestled in the middle of the Milky Way: the Summer Triangle. When it finally gets really dark around midnight (a little earlier at the end of the month), the Summer Triangle, consisting of Daneb in the constellation of Swan, Vega in the constellation of Lyra and Atair in the constellation of Eagle, is already shining high in the south. Incidentally, the Summer Triangle is bright enough that even city dwellers can make it out in the night sky without much effort.
It is worth taking a closer look at the area of the Summer Triangle, because there are plenty of exciting Messier objects and, with the Arrow and the Vixen, also small constellations. Deep sky objects worth mentioning here are, for example, the Dumbbell Nebula in the constellation Fox and the Ring Nebula in the constellation Lyra - both nebulae are gas envelopes of dying stars.

Planets in the summer nights: Jupiter shows off its four largest moons simultaneously

In the first half of the night, things admittedly look lousy in terms of planetary observations. It's simply too bright. With a bit of luck, however, you can make out Mars and Venus in the western sky around 10 p.m. - our two neighbouring planets will then have placed themselves between Cancer and Leo, close together. From midnight, however, things get better. For then Saturn (in Capricorn), Jupiter (in Aquarius), Neptune (in Aquarius) and Uranus (in Aries) enter the celestial stage one after the other, coming from the east.
Jupiter offers us a special highlight. In July, it shows us its four largest moons at the same time - but you need a telescope to see them! On 24 July, the moons can be seen very well, lined up one after the other - from left to right as follows: Callisto, Europa, Ganymede and Io. On the night of 29-30 July, two moons, Callisto and Io, even pass Jupiter at the same time and are in front of Jupiter's surface, while Europa and Ganymede frame the gas giant on the left and right.

Aplenty of meteor streams

From the middle of the month onwards, it gets exciting - because then the shooting stars of three meteor streams flit across the night sky and give a foretaste of the shooting star month of August, especially towards the end of the month.
It all starts on 12 July with the Southern Delta Aquarids. They reach high fall rates between 29 and 31 July - on 30 July around 25 shooting stars per hour can be expected. On 28 July, they are joined by the rather weak meteor stream of the Piscis-Austrinids with about 5 shooting stars per hour. On 30 July, the third meteor stream, the Alpha-Capricornids, will reach its maximum. Although it only sends about five shooting stars per hour, they shine in bright yellow light and travel relatively slowly.
Unfortunately, the moon is throwing a spanner in the works this year: the moon is full on 27 July, which means it is almost too bright.

Moon positions itself close to planets

The moon provides a little compensation on 12 July with a pretty sight: Around 10 p.m., visible low on the western horizon, the very narrow crescent Moon will be close to Venus and Mars. Our tip: Use at least binoculars, because otherwise the faint crescent moon is barely visible. At the same time, we say goodbye to Mars for the time being - the Red Planet disappears completely from the night sky in July.
Take a look towards the southern sky on 24 July at around 23:00: the full moon will then be positioned exactly between Saturn and Jupiter. Saturn is above the moon on the right, and Jupiter, which shines brighter, is above the moon on the left.

Luminous noctilucent clouds on the northern horizon

.

With a bit of luck, you might spot luminous noctilucent clouds at horizon level facing north at dusk from about half past nine. However, the phenomenon is rare and can only be observed in summer: Very high clouds (at an altitude of about 80 kilometres) are illuminated for a short time by the setting sun, which is already below the horizon, and bathed in a silvery blue glow. Incidentally, it is not the clouds themselves that shine, but ice crystals that reflect the light.