Skynotes: July 2026

Planetary milestone moment 

Last month Earth experienced Winter Solstice in the southern hemisphere and Summer Solstice in the north. This month our planet passes through another of its annual milestone moments. On July 6th it will be aphelion, Earth’s furthest point from the Sun in the year.    

On an elliptical orbit Earth will sit 5 million km more distant than its closest point to the Sun which is perihelion in January. It might seem reasonable to assume Earth’s changing distance from the Sun influences the seasons, but the change from aphelion (152.1 million km in July) to perihelion (147.1 million km in December) has a negligible effect. The main factor that brings on the seasons is Earth’s tilted axis of rotation which makes each hemisphere alternate between leaning towards the Sun in summer or then leaning away in winter. 

Explore more at: 
timeanddate Perihelion and Aphelion 

Melbourne Sun times 

*When the sun is at its highest, crossing the meridian or local longitude.  

Moon Phases

Moon Distance

Monday 13th is lunar perigee (nearest to Earth) at 359,114 km.

Sunday 26th is lunar apogee (furthest from Earth) at 405,548 km.

Visible Planets

Mercury is not visible during its Inferior Solar Conjunction as it passes in front of the Sun.

Venus continues in our skies from 5:30pm in the northwest before setting by 8:30pm. Often referred to as the Evening Star, it will look like the first star of the night. It is the brightest object of the night, second only to the Moon.

Mars returns again to our night after its passage behind the Sun (its Solar Conjunction). It will be visible rising around 4:30am before being lost in the early dawn early light.

Jupiter, after being in our night skies for some months, has begun its pass behind the Sun (Solar Conjunction) and is visible.

Saturn is again visible after its Solar Conjunction. It will rise in the east from 1:10am after which it will move across the northern sky before fading by 7am in the dawn light. During the month it can be seen a little earlier each night. 

Relative sizes of the inner terrestrial planets in order from the Sun: Mercury, Venus, Earth and Mars. The surface of Venus, obscured in visible light by a thick carbon dioxide atmosphere, is revealed in radar imaging by the Magellan Orbiter of the early 1990s. Mercury with no effective atmosphere, Earth with a largely nitrogen-oxygen atmosphere, and Mars with a thin carbon dioxide atmosphere, are seen in visible light. Image NASA   

Learn more at:
NASA The Solar System

Meteors 

There are no strong meteor showers in July but on the 27th-30th the Southern Delta Aquariids could be seen high in the north a few hours before dawn in the constellation of Aqaurius, the water bearer, radiating from near Skat (Delta Auquarii), the fourth brightest star in that constellation. 

See
NASA Southern Delta Aquariids
Earthsky Detla Aquariid Meteor Shower

Stars and constellations

In the west

Canis Major (and Sirius, brightest of the night time stars) is much lower this month in the west, while Orion the Hunter has now completely disappeared below the western horizon.  

In the north

Canis Major (and Sirius, brightest of the night time stars) is much lower this month in the west, while Orion the Hunter has now completely disappeared below the western horizon.  

In the east

Scorpius rises much higher in the south-east with the red-giant star Antares easily seen even from areas with city lights. Below and now fully revealed is the centaur-archer Sagittarius whose bow and arrow forms the famous asterism the Tea Pot. Beyond Sagittarius lies the centre of the galaxy with the supermassive black hole Sagittarius A* (Sag A* for short) imaged in 2019 by the Event Horizon Telescope Collaboration with results released in 2022. 

See:
Astronomy Australia: First direct evidence of supermassive black hole
ESO: EHT Meet the black hole at the centre of our galaxy

In the south

The Southern Cross or Crux is high up directly south and, to the left, are the Pointers (Alpha and Beta Centauri which mark the front hooves of Centaurus, the other celestial centaur in our winter skies.

The billions of distant stars and numerous dark dust clouds of the Milky Way form a broad band across the evening sky from east to west which gradually ‘wheels’ around the sky as Earth rotates on its axis. From our southern perspective we enjoy a superb view of the galaxy quite different to most northern hemisphere locations.

In the south-west are the irregular neighbouring galaxies, the Large and Small Clouds of Magellan. These nearby companions to the Milky Way are not visible from mid to high latitudes of the northern hemisphere.

Also visible are the bright stars Canopus in the south-west and Achernar closer to the horizon in the south. 

International Space Station

ISS orbits every 90 minutes at an average distance of 400 km appearing like a bright star moving slowly across the night sky. Here are some of the brightest passes expected this month over Melbourne and Central Victoria:

Evening

Wednesday 1st  6:50pm-6:55pm  West-South-West to North-East
Thursday 2nd  6:22pm-6:09pm  South-West to North-East

Morning

Tuesday 14th  6:45am-6:51am  West-North-West to South-East
Wednesday 15th  5:58am-6:03am  North-North-West to South-East 

Heavens Above gives predictions for visible passes of space stations and major satellites, live sky views and 3D visualisations. Be sure to first enter your location under ‘Configuration’.

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