July skies of the Gulf Coast
By Dr. Wayne Wooten
June 30, 2025 at 2:42 PM CDT
For July 2025, the moon is at first quarter on July 2. The full moon is on Thursday, July 10, the Thunder Moon, due to all the afternoon thunderstorms. The last quarter moon is on July 17, the day after it passed just south of Saturn in the dawn. The waning crescent moon is just above Venus on the morning of July 21, and makes a nice triangle with Venus above and Jupiter below it on July 22; a great photo op for anyone with a smartphone. The moon is new on July 24 and passes just below Mars in the twilight on July 28.
Mercury is briefly visible in the dusk in the west in the first week of July, then passes between us and the Sun. Venus dominates the dawn sky, far brighter than even Jupiter, some 22 degrees to the SE of it in the morning skies. Saturn’s rings are now open 3.5 degrees, looking much more familiar than even a month ago. It is in Pisces, rising at midnight. The only evening planet for July is Mars, faint red in the west at dusk, and getting lost in the Sun’s glare by August.
High overhead is the Big Dipper, and good scouts know to use the pointers at the end of the bowl to find Polaris, the pole star, staying 30 degrees high in our night sky all year long. By midnight, the Earth’s rotation will carry the Dipper low in the NW sky, yet Polaris will still be in the same place. This was critical to early navigators like Columbus, for if they kept Polaris at the same altitude in their northern sky, they knew they were sailing due west, leading him to the new world.
Taking the arc in the Dipper’s handle, we “arc” SE to bright orange Arcturus, the brightest star of Spring. Moving almost perpendicular to the plane of our Milky Way, Arcturus was the first star in the sky where its proper motion across the historic sky was noted by Edmund Halley.
To the north of Arcturus is the northern crown, Corona Borealis. Its brightest jewel is Gemma (or Alphecca, here), in the center of the crown.
Delphinus (927x697, AR: 1.3299856527977045)
Spike south to Spica, the hot blue star in Virgo, then curve to Corvus the Crow, a four-sided grouping. North of Corvus, in the arms of Virgo, is where our large scopes will show members of the Virgo Supercluster, a swarm of over a thousand galaxies about 50 million light years distant.
To the east, Hercules is well up, with the nice globular cluster M-13 marked on your sky map and visible in binoculars. The brightest star of the northern hemisphere, Vega (from Carl Sagan’s novel and movie, “Contact”), rises in the NE as twilight deepens. Twice as hot as our Sun, it appears blue-white, like most bright stars.
Northeast of Lyra is Cygnus, the Swan, flying down the Milky Way. Its bright star Deneb, at the top of the “northern cross”, is one of the luminaries of the Galaxy, about 50,000 times more luminous than our Sun and around 3,000 light years distant from the Galaxy, and a little above (north) of Vega.
South of Deneb, on a dark, clear night, note the “Great Rift,” a dark nebula in front of our solar system as we revolve around the core of the Milky Way in the Galactic Year of 250 million of our own years. The star at the south end of the Northern Cross is one of my favorites, Albireo, the “gator star,” a notable orange and blue double at 20x.
Altair is the third brightest star of the summer triangle. It lies in Aquila the Eagle, and is much closer than Deneb; it lies within about 13 light years of our Sun. Just east of Altair is the tiny, faint, but very distinctive Delphinus, one of the rare constellations that indeed look exactly like its name. Think of the leaping dolphin statue in front of Gulf Breeze High School, and you will have no problem picking it out on a dark, clear night.
This Dolphin in the myths carried the Greek Poet, Arion, to safety when he was robbed and thrown off the ship that was carrying him and his considerable fortune home to Corinth. It is claimed his singing of a dirge before being cast overboard caused his savior to come to his aid. Shades of Jonah and the whale!
There is another, much cuter dolphin in the sky, begging for attention from observers. Our featured deep sky dolphin nebula photo is by EAAA member James Schultz. It does not lie in the summer sky, but near Sirius in Canis Major in the winter sky. But it is still so cute that as soon as I saw it, I convinced James to share it with you now. He used an ES-127 five-inch refractor and great astro processing to bring out this shell of gas (Sh2-308) driven off the central star, EZ Canis Majoris, about to explode.
Dolphin Nebula (720x510, AR: 1.411764705882353)
As we head south, Antares is well up at sunset in Scorpius. It appears reddish (its Greek name means rival of Ares or Mars to the Latins) because it is half as hot as our yellow Sun; it is bright because it is a bloated red supergiant, big enough to swallow up our solar system all the way out to Saturn’s orbit! Scorpius is the brightest constellation in the sky, with 13 stars brighter than the pole star Polaris! Note the fine naked eye clusters M-6 and M-7, just to the left of the Scorpion’s tail.
Just a little east of the Scorpion’s tail is the teapot shape of Sagittarius, which lies toward the center of the Milky Way. From a dark sky site, you can pick out the fine stellar nursery, M-8, the Lagoon Nebula, like a cloud of steam coming out of the teapot’s spout. This view of our home galaxy stretching overhead is for about midnight on July evenings, looking from the South to overhead.
My favorite way of learning the many deep sky objects (open and globular clusters, bright nebulae like the Lagoon, and the many dark nebulae that make up the “Dark Constellations” of the Inca) is to use low power binoculars (I prefer 8x40s because they are light and easier to hold steady with my Parkinson’s, but younger folks with a better grip on life will find 10x50’s will show fainter objects and at high power) and lean back in a lawn chair (also an ideal way to observe meteor showers like August’s Perseids with just your naked eyes) and slowly sweep up and down the Galaxy, marking off the deep sky objects on your SkyMap as you spot them. Note that the back of the SkyMap has a fine selection of the best deep sky objects to spot with the naked eye, binoculars, and small scopes to help you find your way across the Galaxy this summer. Of course, you will need dark skies to see this kind of beauty, but many have plans for trips to parks and out west this summer, so be sure to plan for at least a few evenings under dark skies to appreciate our galaxy.
Also, most new smartphones can get fine shots with timed exposures on a tripod like this one, using night camera or Starry Camera Pro programs. For iPhones, download the app “Nocturne by Unistellar” for free.
The Escambia Amateur Astronomers return to Casino Beach for our Pavilion Stargaze Season on the first quarter moon. Meet us south of the famed Beach Ball Water Tower and bring your smartphone to image the Sun (before sunset with our solar scopes), Moon, and constellations. We have free star charts and will show you what’s up. The gazes, if clear skies permit, will be on the Fridays and Saturdays for these weekends: July (none due to Blue Angels show), August 1-2, August 29-30, and September 26-27. The Milky Way over the dark Gulf of Mexico will be great then.
For deep skies with much less light pollution, on the weekends of the third quarter moon, we continue our cooperation with the Florida State Parks at Big Lagoon State Park. While the Pavilion parking is free, normal entry fees ($6 per car) to Big Lagoon still apply, and remember to check in the front gate before it closes at sunset. Our gazes for best imaging of the Milky Way, constellations, and other galaxies are on these Saturdays: July 19 and August 16. Bring your smartphones and we will teach you how to use apps.
Our planetarium show for Friday, July 11, at PSC’s Space and Science Theatre is “Skies of the Ancient Maya” at 6 p.m. Be sure to get your tickets at Purple Pass. The last ten shows have been sold out! Tickets are only $6, and clear skies permitting, sun spotting and lunar observing will follow the show. The club will meet at 7 p.m. in room 1709 after the show, and you are invited to join us on a tour of “The Moon in June” by Jennifer Lanier with her new See Star S 30. You will be amazed by what this $350 telescope/smartphone combo can do.
For more information on the Escambia Amateur Astronomers, join us on Facebook, visit our website at www.eaaa.net or contact our sponsor, Lauren Rogers at Pensacola State at lrogers@pensacolastate.edu. You can also schedule special gazes at the Airport Approach at Langley and McAlister by calling our moderator, Dr. Wayn Wooten, at (850) 291-9334.
Mercury is briefly visible in the dusk in the west in the first week of July, then passes between us and the Sun. Venus dominates the dawn sky, far brighter than even Jupiter, some 22 degrees to the SE of it in the morning skies. Saturn’s rings are now open 3.5 degrees, looking much more familiar than even a month ago. It is in Pisces, rising at midnight. The only evening planet for July is Mars, faint red in the west at dusk, and getting lost in the Sun’s glare by August.
High overhead is the Big Dipper, and good scouts know to use the pointers at the end of the bowl to find Polaris, the pole star, staying 30 degrees high in our night sky all year long. By midnight, the Earth’s rotation will carry the Dipper low in the NW sky, yet Polaris will still be in the same place. This was critical to early navigators like Columbus, for if they kept Polaris at the same altitude in their northern sky, they knew they were sailing due west, leading him to the new world.
Taking the arc in the Dipper’s handle, we “arc” SE to bright orange Arcturus, the brightest star of Spring. Moving almost perpendicular to the plane of our Milky Way, Arcturus was the first star in the sky where its proper motion across the historic sky was noted by Edmund Halley.
To the north of Arcturus is the northern crown, Corona Borealis. Its brightest jewel is Gemma (or Alphecca, here), in the center of the crown.
Delphinus (927x697, AR: 1.3299856527977045)
Spike south to Spica, the hot blue star in Virgo, then curve to Corvus the Crow, a four-sided grouping. North of Corvus, in the arms of Virgo, is where our large scopes will show members of the Virgo Supercluster, a swarm of over a thousand galaxies about 50 million light years distant.
To the east, Hercules is well up, with the nice globular cluster M-13 marked on your sky map and visible in binoculars. The brightest star of the northern hemisphere, Vega (from Carl Sagan’s novel and movie, “Contact”), rises in the NE as twilight deepens. Twice as hot as our Sun, it appears blue-white, like most bright stars.
Northeast of Lyra is Cygnus, the Swan, flying down the Milky Way. Its bright star Deneb, at the top of the “northern cross”, is one of the luminaries of the Galaxy, about 50,000 times more luminous than our Sun and around 3,000 light years distant from the Galaxy, and a little above (north) of Vega.
South of Deneb, on a dark, clear night, note the “Great Rift,” a dark nebula in front of our solar system as we revolve around the core of the Milky Way in the Galactic Year of 250 million of our own years. The star at the south end of the Northern Cross is one of my favorites, Albireo, the “gator star,” a notable orange and blue double at 20x.
Altair is the third brightest star of the summer triangle. It lies in Aquila the Eagle, and is much closer than Deneb; it lies within about 13 light years of our Sun. Just east of Altair is the tiny, faint, but very distinctive Delphinus, one of the rare constellations that indeed look exactly like its name. Think of the leaping dolphin statue in front of Gulf Breeze High School, and you will have no problem picking it out on a dark, clear night.
This Dolphin in the myths carried the Greek Poet, Arion, to safety when he was robbed and thrown off the ship that was carrying him and his considerable fortune home to Corinth. It is claimed his singing of a dirge before being cast overboard caused his savior to come to his aid. Shades of Jonah and the whale!
There is another, much cuter dolphin in the sky, begging for attention from observers. Our featured deep sky dolphin nebula photo is by EAAA member James Schultz. It does not lie in the summer sky, but near Sirius in Canis Major in the winter sky. But it is still so cute that as soon as I saw it, I convinced James to share it with you now. He used an ES-127 five-inch refractor and great astro processing to bring out this shell of gas (Sh2-308) driven off the central star, EZ Canis Majoris, about to explode.
Dolphin Nebula (720x510, AR: 1.411764705882353)
As we head south, Antares is well up at sunset in Scorpius. It appears reddish (its Greek name means rival of Ares or Mars to the Latins) because it is half as hot as our yellow Sun; it is bright because it is a bloated red supergiant, big enough to swallow up our solar system all the way out to Saturn’s orbit! Scorpius is the brightest constellation in the sky, with 13 stars brighter than the pole star Polaris! Note the fine naked eye clusters M-6 and M-7, just to the left of the Scorpion’s tail.
Just a little east of the Scorpion’s tail is the teapot shape of Sagittarius, which lies toward the center of the Milky Way. From a dark sky site, you can pick out the fine stellar nursery, M-8, the Lagoon Nebula, like a cloud of steam coming out of the teapot’s spout. This view of our home galaxy stretching overhead is for about midnight on July evenings, looking from the South to overhead.
My favorite way of learning the many deep sky objects (open and globular clusters, bright nebulae like the Lagoon, and the many dark nebulae that make up the “Dark Constellations” of the Inca) is to use low power binoculars (I prefer 8x40s because they are light and easier to hold steady with my Parkinson’s, but younger folks with a better grip on life will find 10x50’s will show fainter objects and at high power) and lean back in a lawn chair (also an ideal way to observe meteor showers like August’s Perseids with just your naked eyes) and slowly sweep up and down the Galaxy, marking off the deep sky objects on your SkyMap as you spot them. Note that the back of the SkyMap has a fine selection of the best deep sky objects to spot with the naked eye, binoculars, and small scopes to help you find your way across the Galaxy this summer. Of course, you will need dark skies to see this kind of beauty, but many have plans for trips to parks and out west this summer, so be sure to plan for at least a few evenings under dark skies to appreciate our galaxy.
Also, most new smartphones can get fine shots with timed exposures on a tripod like this one, using night camera or Starry Camera Pro programs. For iPhones, download the app “Nocturne by Unistellar” for free.
The Escambia Amateur Astronomers return to Casino Beach for our Pavilion Stargaze Season on the first quarter moon. Meet us south of the famed Beach Ball Water Tower and bring your smartphone to image the Sun (before sunset with our solar scopes), Moon, and constellations. We have free star charts and will show you what’s up. The gazes, if clear skies permit, will be on the Fridays and Saturdays for these weekends: July (none due to Blue Angels show), August 1-2, August 29-30, and September 26-27. The Milky Way over the dark Gulf of Mexico will be great then.
For deep skies with much less light pollution, on the weekends of the third quarter moon, we continue our cooperation with the Florida State Parks at Big Lagoon State Park. While the Pavilion parking is free, normal entry fees ($6 per car) to Big Lagoon still apply, and remember to check in the front gate before it closes at sunset. Our gazes for best imaging of the Milky Way, constellations, and other galaxies are on these Saturdays: July 19 and August 16. Bring your smartphones and we will teach you how to use apps.
Our planetarium show for Friday, July 11, at PSC’s Space and Science Theatre is “Skies of the Ancient Maya” at 6 p.m. Be sure to get your tickets at Purple Pass. The last ten shows have been sold out! Tickets are only $6, and clear skies permitting, sun spotting and lunar observing will follow the show. The club will meet at 7 p.m. in room 1709 after the show, and you are invited to join us on a tour of “The Moon in June” by Jennifer Lanier with her new See Star S 30. You will be amazed by what this $350 telescope/smartphone combo can do.
For more information on the Escambia Amateur Astronomers, join us on Facebook, visit our website at www.eaaa.net or contact our sponsor, Lauren Rogers at Pensacola State at lrogers@pensacolastate.edu. You can also schedule special gazes at the Airport Approach at Langley and McAlister by calling our moderator, Dr. Wayn Wooten, at (850) 291-9334.