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With the bright glow of the full Strawberry Moon now fading into the early morning hours, this week brings some beautiful views of both the planets and the galaxy beyond. With Earth at its furthest from the sun on July 6, Venus moves close to the bright star Regulus after dark on July 9, and the waning crescent moon joins Mars before sunrise on July 11.
This week is perfect for finding our Milky Way with the naked eye. For astrologers in North America and mid-northern latitudes, here’s everything you need to know about stargazing and astronomy this week, July 6-12, 2026. (Photo: Alan Dyer/VW Pics/UIG via Getty Images)
Universal Images Group via Getty Images
Timeline
Earth reaches aphelion, its furthest point from the sun in its annual orbit, at about 94.5 million miles (152.1 million km), compared to 91.3 million miles (147.1 million km) at the perihelion. The difference is about 3.4%.
The last quarter moon rises around midnight, leaving dark skies in the afternoon hours and starting the clock on July’s 12-night star window. Want to camp under a starry sky? Go soon!
Look west after sunset to see bright Venus shining just a degree from Regulus, the brightest star in the spring constellation Leo. Venus is a nearby cloud-shrouded planet, while Regulus is a hot, rapidly spinning star about 79 light-years away.
Around 4:00 A.M. local time, look low to the east-northeast for a 13% illuminated crescent near Mars and Aldebaran in the constellation Taurus, with the beautiful open Pleiades cluster twinkling nearby.
Manhattanhenge appears at sunset in New York, with the sun aligning with the grid of streets. Saturday sees the full alignment of the sun at 8:20 p.m. EDT, with the half sun aligning on Sunday at 8:21 p.m. EDT.
Around 4:00 A.M. local time on Saturday, July 11, look low to the east-northeast for a 13% illuminated crescent moon near Mars and Aldebaran in the constellation Taurus, with the beautiful open Pleiades star cluster twinkling nearby.
Stellarium
MID-SUMMER’S MILKY WAY WINDOW
True darkness is still limited in July, but this week offers a rare alignment of conditions: the moon is out of the way and the sky reaches its darkest point in a usable hour. If you are somewhere that looks dark in one light pollution map — or visiting one Dark Sky Place — be out about two hours after sunset and face southeast. Allow your eyes 15-20 minutes to adjust. Slowly, a pale arc of light begins to emerge – the Milky Way, the combined light of billions of distant stars.
Constellation of the week: Aquila
It’s one of the easiest constellations to find in the night sky this time of year – high in the east just after dark – but Aquila, the Eagle, is little known. It is anchored by Altair, the southernmost of the three stars in the vast Summer Triangle. Unlike Vega and Deneb, Altair is flanked by two fainter stars, creating a distinctive straight line pattern. Altair is relatively close—just 17 light-years away—and rotates extremely quickly, completing a full revolution in about 10 hours. This causes a bulge at the equator. So when you look at Altair, you see a star behaving very differently from the sun. It is a reminder that the stars are not all like the sun – far from it!
What’s next in the night sky
On July 14, the new moon brings the darkest skies of the month, just in time for the start of the annual Perseid meteor shower on July 17. On that date, a crescent moon appears near Venus after sunset, while on July 29, the full Buck moon rises at sunset.
The times and dates given are for mid-northern latitudes. For the most accurate location information, consult online planetariums such as Stellarium.
