What's in the Sky: Crescent Moon joins Venus in mid-July sky

At the start of July, the waning gibbous Moon will be low in the southern evening sky. If you are an early riser, the Moon will join Saturn in the morning sky on July 7-8. On the 17th, a beautiful crescent Moon will join Venus in the western sky for a nice evening view.

If you have not yet seen the International Space Station zoom overhead, July is a good month to spot it. The ISS will make numerous passes visible to us in the month as it makes its approximately 90-minute orbit of the Earth. The ISS is visible via reflected light from the Sun, so is visible either after sunset or before sunrise. Here are some good dates and APPROXIMATE times for viewing the station, based on timings on the website “Heavens Above” in late June. Those times can change. The ISS orbits at an altitude of about 250 miles, and there is a bit of atmosphere even that high, causing the ISS to slow down and drop in altitude, due to the atmospheric drag. The Space Station is periodically boosted back to a higher orbit, so exact times of passes can change. So, head out a bit earlier than these times, enjoy the stars and identify a few constellations.

• July 6, starting at about 11:10 p.m. The ISS will be moving from southwest to northeast. Look for it near the bright star Spica, low in the west-southwest. As it zooms overhead, it will pass near Cygnus, the northern cross, and will disappear in the northeast. At its highest point it will be about 80 degrees above the horizon, almost straight overhead.

• July 7, about 10:20 p.m. Look for the ISS near the bright star Spica, in the southwest. The ISS will pass close to the bright star Vega, high overhead, and then drop to the northeast.

• July 10, about 9:30 p.m. This one is a bit earlier in the evening, and on a Friday. Watch for the ISS low in the west just after 9:30 p.m. While waiting, check out the close conjunction of Venus and the bright star Regulus, low in the west. The ISS will climb high in the sky, passing near Alkaid, the star at the end of the Big Dipper’s handle.

• July 18, at about 11:15 p.m. This pass will be almost directly overhead. Watch for it in the west-northwest. It will pass to the left of the Big Dipper, and will set in the south-southeast.

• July 22, about 9:35 p.m. Another earlier pass, in twilight. Watch for it to appear in the northwestern sky. It will pass close to the bright stars Vega and Altair, high in the sky. The sky will not be real dark yet, but Vega should be nicely visible.

A few notes on viewing the ISS: It takes the ISS several minutes to zoom across the sky, a maximum of about 6 minutes to travel from horizon to horizon. It will be very bright, brighter than most stars. It will be silent; don’t mistake it for a jet plane! Planes make noise, and usually have visible strobe lights. We only see the ISS when the Sun can shine on it, we see the reflected light. When the ISS moves into the Earth’s shadow, you’ll see it quickly dim and disappear. You will see other satellites passing overhead, there are thousands of satellites orbiting the Earth. None are as bright as the ISS. Go to the website Heavens-above (www.heavens-above.com) to see other times, and to see if pass times are different than what I found in June. You’ll have to enter your location, under “change your observing location” then look for ISS under Satellite predictions. You’ll see many other passes as well; the ones I selected are those that pass high overhead in the evening hours.

Have fun viewing July’s night skies and the ISS!