July 6: Earth is at aphelion, the position in its orbit most distant from the sun (152,103,000 kilometers, or 94,512,000 miles away). Look for it in the western sky as a daytime object this morning, in the eastern sky well after midnight tonight after it rises again. July 3: Last quarter moon occurs today, still near the southern border of Pisces. In 1982, this shifting of Saturn's direction took it past Spica three times (a ''triple'' conjunction), but this is not the case this year. But this westerly drift ends today Saturn becomes momentarily stationary (in celestial longitude) and then resumes its normal easterly movement, taking it away from Spica again. July 2: Saturn has been drifting to the right relative to the stars since mid-February, its retrograde motion taking it closer to Spica, the bright star of Virgo. July 1: The month begins with a morning moon, waning gibbous, two days before last quarter, rising shortly before midnight and remaining in the sky almost till noon, just south of the vernal equinox near the southern border of the constellation Pisces. Mars and Mercury are both near the sun and not well placed in July, Mars a morning star, Mercury moving from the morning to the evening sky early in the month. This separates Saturn from Spica, but brings Jupiter closer to Antares. Both planets end their retrograde motion in July, Saturn at the beginning and Jupiter at the end of the month, turning then toward the east (left) again. Saturn and nearby Spica are nearly identical in brightness, Saturn higher and to the left of the star. Jupiter is by far the brighter, with ruddy Antares below to its left. Early in July, they are high in the south as twilight ends, more to the south-southwest late in the month. Jupiter and Saturn, with Antares and Spica as companion stars, still continue to put on a good show in the evening, getting better if anything as their easterly elongations from the sun decrease and they become more discernible in the western sky after sundown. You will probaby still be able to see it in early August, but very low in the west late in evening twilight. Toward the end of July, the brilliant planet is fading and its distance from the sun is decreasing rapidly as Venus's conjunction with the sun approaches in late August. The planet was probably at its best in May, when it was more favorably placed relative to the sun, although it is still near its greatest distance to the sun's left in early July and is at maximum brilliancy on the 19th. All month: July offers the last good opportunities to see Venus as an evening star this time around.
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