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English: Pleiades Star Cluster (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Jupiter and Venus make a pre-dawn showing during the first part of July.  For ambitious star-gazers, Uranus is close to Pisces, and Neptune is in Aquarius. They are high enough to view easily with a telescope, although they are not bright and you have to know where to look. A Google search will reveal finder charts.

At 1 hour before dawn, you can’t miss Venus and Jupiter in the East-Northeast. The bright red star Aldebaran is just above the horizon, Venus (now a morning “star” since its transit across the Sun) is above and slightly to the right of Aldebaran. Jupiter is just above Venus. You can see the contrast in color between brilliant white Venus and ruddy Jupiter. While you’re at it, do you see that cluster of stars above Jupiter, about half-way up the sky? That’s the Pleiades! By July 10th, Venus will be beside Aldebaran, directly to the left.

The evening sky has its share of beautiful sights, too. Mars and Saturn are a third of the way from the horizon to the Southwest as soon as the sky darkens. (If you have a telescope, a shadow will be visible on Saturn from its rings). By the end of July, the distance between both planets will have shrunk considerably.

By the way, Earth is its farthest distance from the Sun (94,506,000 miles) on July 4th at 11 p.m.

What have you seen in the night sky lately? Comment below….