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What’s up in the night sky: July 2023

Welcome to our night sky monthly feature where we focus on easy and fun things to see in the night sky, mostly with just your eyes. This month: easy to see evening and morning planets.

All month: Super bright Venus is in the west after sunset. Venus is the brightest star-like object in the night sky and hard to miss.

All month: Reddish Mars is above the much brighter Venus in the evening west.

All month: Yellowish Saturn rises in the middle of the night and is high in the sky in the pre-dawn. 

All month: Very bright Jupiter is low in the predawn east getting higher and easier to see as the weeks pass.

July 1, 2023 night sky snapshot
July 1, 2023 night sky snapshot Predawn eastern sky showing very bright Jupiter, and yellowish Saturn. Uranus is nearby but is very dim and likely will require binoculars or a telescope to see (Location: Pasadena, California. Latitude: about 34 degrees north.)Image: Bruce Betts/The Planetary Society using Stellarium

July 1: Low in the west after sunset, super bright Venus and much dimmer reddish Mars are at their closest in the night sky, within 3 1/2 degrees, before moving apart over the following weeks.

July 3: Full Moon. This is also a so-called supermoon because the Moon is near the closest point to Earth in its orbit. As a result, the Moon may look slightly larger and brighter than usual. 

July 10: Mars is close to and a bit dimmer than Regulus, the brightest star in Leo. They are about as far apart as the width of a full Moon.

July 10, 2023 night sky snapshot
July 10, 2023 night sky snapshot Early-evening western sky showing super bright Venus and reddish Mars near the star Regulus. (Location: Pasadena, California. Latitude: about 34 degrees north.)Image: Bruce Betts/The Planetary Society using Stellarium.

July 11: The Moon is nearby bright Jupiter in the pre-dawn east.

July 11, 2023 night sky snapshot
July 11, 2023 night sky snapshot Predawn eastern sky showing very bright Jupiter, near the crescent Moon. Uranus is nearby, but is very dim and likely will require binoculars or a telescope to see it. (Location: Pasadena, California. Latitude: about 34 degrees north.)Image: Bruce Betts/The Planetary Society using Stellarium

July 20: The crescent Moon is near reddish Mars in the evening west.

July 20, 2023 night sky snapshot
July 20, 2023 night sky snapshot Early-evening western sky showing the crescent Moon near reddish Mars. The star Regulus and super bright Venus are closer to the horizon. Bright Mercury is very low to the horizon so tough to see. (Location: Pasadena, California. Latitude: about 34 degrees north.)Image: Bruce Betts/The Planetary Society using Stellarium

You can get weekly sky updates as well as weekly trivia and Random Space Facts in the What’s Up segment of Planetary Radio.

The Milky Way over Glacier Point, Yosemite National Park

Learn more about the Night Sky

Our journey to know the cosmos and our place within it starts right outside our windows, in the night sky. Get weekly reports on what's visible and learn how to become a better backyard observer.

Bruce Betts

Bruce Betts

Chief Scientist / LightSail Program Manager for The Planetary Society
Read more articles by Bruce Betts