July sees a series of transitions for the visible planets in our night sky.
It's going to take the entire month of July, but that's the length of time Venus is going to need to bid a fond farewell to evening skywatchers. The descent toward her ultimate disappearance into the sunset fires will be quite noticeable on a night-to-night basis, especially during the second half of the month. Despite this, July is also the month when Venus reaches the pinnacle of its great brilliance during the second week of the month — about the same time when it begins to set prior to the end of evening twilight.
Another evening planet will disappear at the end of this month: Mars. It was a brilliant luminary just a half year ago, but by now it has moved so far from Earth and has dropped very low into the dusk so that finding it will be difficult — even with its proximity to Venus.
Saturn crosses over into the pre-midnight skies early this month and is readily visible in the east-southeast sky during the second half of the night. It's followed a few hours later by the king of the planets, Jupiter, shining brilliantly in the east before sunrise.
Finally, there is the smallest planet, Mercury, visible, albeit with difficulty, very low in the western sky during the second half of July.
Related: When, where and how to see the planets in the 2023 night sky
Read more: Best telescopes for seeing planets in 2023
Looking for a telescope to see the planets in July? We recommend the Celestron Astro Fi 102 as the top pick in our best beginner's telescope guide.
In our schedule, remember that when measuring the angular separation between two celestial objects, your clenched fist held at arm's length measures roughly 10-degrees. Here, we present a schedule below which provides some of the best planet viewing times as well directing you as to where to look to see them.
Be sure to check out our best telescopes for viewing planets guide and our more general guides for the best binoculars and the best telescopes. If you're interested in taking your own impressive skywatching images, we have recommendations for the best cameras for astrophotography and the best lenses for astrophotography.
- The best night sky events to see in 2023
- When, where and how to see the planets in the 2023 night sky
- Night sky, July 2023: What you can see tonight [maps]
Mercury
Mercury is at superior conjunction on July 1st, passing behind the sun as seen from Earth. It will be another couple of weeks before it will begin to emerge into view in the evening sky. About 1h Universal Time on July 29th (Friday evening in North America), Mercury will pass only 0.1-degree west-southwest of the bluish 1st-magnitude star Regulus. A half hour after sundown, use binoculars to look for the pair about half a fist-widths at arm's length above bright Venus. Mercury is fading but still outshines Regulus by far. Observers in low latitudes will have a better view of this very tight conjunction.
Venus
Venus still shines high and stays up until a little after dark in early July, but each week it sinks lower and sets earlier. Sadly, the long "Venus Evening Show" of 2023 will soon be ending. On July 9th, this dazzling world shines at magnitude -4.7, the planet's maximum brightness for the current apparition. Even the smallest telescope will show the crescent planet thinning from about 1/3 to 1/10 illuminated, while it lengthens dramatically from cusp to cusp. Venus then marches closer to Regulus spending July 12th to 21st hanging within 4-degrees to the lower right of the star, which is only half a percent as bright. You'll probably need binoculars to see it. On July 19th, about a half hour after sunset, look low toward the western horizon for Venus, which can serve as a benchmark for locating a very thin waxing crescent moon about a fist-widths at arm's length to its right. Then, about half a fist-width to the lower right of the moon will be Mercury. Scanning this region of the sky with binoculars will improve your chances of sighting all three. In early August, Venus will disappear into the glare of the sun.
Earth
Earth is at aphelion, its farthest from the sun in space, at 4:06 p.m. EDT on July 6th. At that time our planet lies 94,506,364 miles from the sun, measured center to center.
Mars
Mars will pass less than three-quarters of a degree above Regulus on July 10th, but binoculars are definitely called for here. Locate Venus first, then scan the sky several degrees to its upper left to find Mars and Regulus. But look in early twilight; they're all getting low. Mars is a faint little thing at 2nd magnitude and is so far away on the opposite side of the sun that, in a telescope, its disk appears like a tiny dot. This is certainly not the month to impress anyone with telescopic views of Mars; it's about as far from Earth (211 million miles) as it can get.
Jupiter
Jupiter is now a prominent morning object, dominating the predawn eastern sky. A couple of hours before the break of dawn on July 11th, look a quarter of the way up from the eastern horizon to see a fat waning crescent moon, and about a half dozen degrees to its lower left, shining brilliantly will be Jupiter.
Saturn
Currently in eastern Aquarius, Saturn rises in the east-southeast around 11:30 p.m. daylight saving time in early July, but by the end of the month it is coming up in late twilight. The ring system of golden Saturn is starting to widen its tilt to us for the late summer and early fall. On July 7th, at 2 a.m. local daylight time, face southeast and about one-quarter up above the horizon you'll see the waning gibbous moon and about 3½-degrees above it you'll see a bright yellow-white "star," which will be Saturn.
Editor's Note: If you get a great photo of any of the planets and would like to share it with Space.com's readers, send your photo(s), comments, and your name and location to spacephotos@space.com.
Joe Rao serves as an instructor and guest lecturer at New York's Hayden Planetarium. He writes about astronomy for Natural History magazine, the Farmers' Almanac and other publications. Follow us on Twitter @Spacedotcom and on Facebook.
