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[Engergetic music]

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[Preston Dyches]
What’s Up for July?

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Mars shines in the evening sky,

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sixty years after
its first close-up,

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Venus brightens your mornings,

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and the eagle soars overhead.

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First up, Mercury is visible
for a brief time

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following sunset
for the first week of July.

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Look for it very low in the west

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30 to 45 minutes after sundown.

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It sets within the
hour after that,

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so be on the ball if
you want to catch it!

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Mars is visible

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for the first hour or two
after it gets dark.

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You'll find it sinking lower
in the sky each day

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and looking a bit dimmer

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over the course of the month,

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as our two planets' orbits
carry them farther apart.

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The crescent Moon appears right
next to Mars on the 28th.

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July is the 60th anniversary
of the first successful

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flyby of Mars, by NASA’s
Mariner 4 spacecraft in 1965.

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Mariner 4 sent back
the first photos

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of another planet
from deep space,

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along with the discovery
that the Red Planet

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has only a very thin,
cold atmosphere.

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Next, Saturn is rising
late in the evening,

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and by dawn it's high
overhead to the south.

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Looking to the morning sky,
Venus shines brightly all month.

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You'll find it in the east

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during the couple of
hours before sunrise,

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with the Pleiades and bright
stars Aldebaran and Capella.

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And as the month goes on,

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Jupiter makes its
morning sky debut,

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rising in the hour
before sunrise

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and appearing a little
higher each day.

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By the end of the month,
early risers

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will have
the two brightest planets

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greeting them each morning.

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They're headed for a super-close
meetup in mid-August,

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and the pair will be
a fixture of the a.m. sky 

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through late this year.

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Look for them together
with the crescent moon

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on the 21st and 22nd.

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From July and into August,

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is a great time to observe the
constellation Aquila, the eagle.

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This time of year,

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it soars high into the sky
in the first half of the night.

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Aquila represents
the mythical eagle

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that was a powerful servant

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and messenger of
the Greek god Zeus.

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The eagle carried
his lightning bolts

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and was a symbol of his power
as king of the gods.

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To find Aquila in the sky,

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start by locating its
brightest star, Altair.

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It’s one the three bright stars
in the Summer Triangle,

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which is super easy to pick out

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in summer months
in the Northern Hemisphere.

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Altair is the second
brightest of the three,

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and sits at the southernmost
corner of the triangle.

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The other stars in Aquila aren’t
as bright as Altair,

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which can make observing
the constellation challenging

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if you live in an area
with a lot of light pollution.

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It’s easier, though,

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if you know how the eagle
is oriented on the sky.

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Imagine it’s flying
toward the north

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with its wings spread wide,

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its right wing
pointed toward Vega.

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If you can find Altair, and
Aquila's next brightest star,

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you can usually trace out

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the rest of the spread-eagle
shape from there.

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​​The second half of July
is the best time of the month

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to observe Aquila,
as the Moon doesn't rise

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until later then,

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making it easier

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to pick out the
constellation's fainter stars.

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Observing the
constellation Aquila

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makes for a worthy challenge
in the July night sky.

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And once you're familiar
with its shape, it's hard

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not to see the mythical eagle
soaring overhead

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among the
summertime stars.

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Here are the phases
of the Moon for July.

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You can stay up to date
on all of NASA's missions

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exploring the solar system
and beyond at science.nasa.gov.

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I'm Preston Dyches from NASA's
Jet Propulsion Laboratory,

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and that's
What's Up for this month.