July Stargazing: Meteors, more meteors, Pluto, and even more meteors

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The summer is generally a low period for stargazing, for the simple reason that there’s less darkness to put to use staring at the sky thanks to our longer days and shorter nights. However, July bucks the trend—lunar pun fully intended—with a veritable smorgasbord of meteor showers to choose from. Never one to be outshone, Venus is also putting on a show throughout the month,and there’s also a rare chance for owners of fancy telescopes to spot her polar opposite, the reclusive former planet Pluto. During the day, those in the tropics can experience the strange and wonderful phenomenon of Lāhainā Noon for the second time this year. Egad! Let’s get started. 

July 8 and 9: Venus Near Regulus

The temperature’s rising, the nights are short and balmy, and the Roman goddess of love is really feeling herself. Venus will be prominent throughout July, moving away from the sun toward its point of full elongation—the point at which the distance between it and the sun in the sky is at its greatest. Our cosmic neighbor will reach full elongation in August.

This trajectory makes Venus easy to spot through this month, but the always indispensable Farmer’s Almanac suggests the nights of July 8 and 9 as particularly good days to take a look. Venus will be right beside Regulus, the brightest star in the constellation Leo. Look to the western sky just after sunset and enjoy the show.

July 10: July Pegasids Predicted Peak

The first of this month’s meteor showers is the July Pegasids. While this isn’t the most spectacular of showers, this will be a good year to see it. The moon will be a mere sliver in the sky as the shower reaches its peak, since we will still be weeks away from the full moon. The meteor shower’s radiant location—the point from which the meteors appear to emerge—is in the constellation Pegasus. The “winged horse” constellation rises above the eastern horizon not long after sunset. However, be patient. since the best viewing conditions will be after midnight.

July 11: Lāhainā Noon Begins

If you’re in Hawai’i, or elsewhere in the tropics, then July 11 will bring the second of 2026’s two Lāhainā Noons. On certain days in May and July in the tropics, the sun is directly overhead and objects like telephone poles cast no shadow at all. The exact time and date the sun passes overhead will depend on your location: the Bishop Museum provides a handy chart of these times and dates for various parts of Hawai’i.

July 27: Pluto at Opposition

There are very few good opportunities to take a look at the tiny, distant, scurrying little friend known as Pluto. But this month, the Kuiper Belt’s most famous resident will be in full opposition, meaning it is  directly between Earth and the sun. This means that from our point of view, Pluto will be as brightly lit as it ever gets, so if there was ever a time to try to catch a glimpse, this is it.

Brightly lit or not, you’re most definitely not going to be able to spot Pluto with the naked eye. You’ll need a decent telescope. You are most likely going to want at least a 10–inch instrument, and more likely something in the realm of 12 to 16 inches. You’ll also need to get away from the city: 

“Places with more light pollution simply won’t allow you to glimpse the faint, icy world no matter how powerful the instrument,” Telescope Watch writes.

July 28: Gamma Draconids Predicted Peak

While the Pegasids coincide with a crescent moon, there’s no such luck for July’s second meteor shower, the Gamma Draconids. This year, they collide with an almost full moon, which will make seeing the meteors pretty challenging. This is a shame, because a decade ago the Gamma Draconids produced an unexpected outburst of up to 40 meteors an hour, a significant increase from their usual leisurely rate of about five meteors an hour, As per Starwalk, this month “the Gamma Draconids will reach the same position they had during the 2016 outburst.” There’s still decent chance they will produce another outburst, but we may be unable to see it.

If you’re feeling optimistic, look to the constellation Draco in the Northern Sky. The moon sets at 5 a.m. local time, giving an hour of relative darkness—and a possible meteor-viewing window—before the sun rises.

July 29: Full Buck Moon

This month’s full moon is called the Buck Moon, a fillip for Milwaukee basketball fans mourning the departure of Giannis Antetokounmpo. As per the Farmer’s Almanac, the moon takes its name from the fact that “the antlers of male deer (bucks) are in full-growth mode at this time,” and also explains that “bucks shed and regrow their antlers each year,” which means that your antipodean correspondent learned something today. 

The Buck moon reaches peak illumination at 10:36 a.m. EDT on July 29.  The moon then begins to shed its own metaphorical antlers again, waning and (hopefully) making way for August’s meteor extravaganza. 

July 30: Delta Aquariids Predicted Peak

But before then… wait, more meteors? If any meteor shower can be described as  underrated, it’s the Delta Aquariids. “Skywatchers at high northern latitudes tend to discount [the Delta Aquarids], but the shower can be excellent from latitudes like those in the southern US,” Earth Sky writes. ” Unfortunately, like the Gamma Draconids, the full moon will make seeing these meteors difficult, but not impossible.

Also, while July 30 is the predicted peak, the Delta Aquariids are a relatively long-lived shower. It  starts in mid-July and continues into August, where they mingle with the Perseids. You might be better off trying to see them toward the start (or end) of this period, when the moon is less of a problem. You can try watching after midnight the week before the predicted peak as a way to avoid some moonlight

Whatever time you choose, look for the meteors in the southern sky just above the star Fomalhaut, which sits directly below the four stars that form a square in the constellation Pegasus.

Remember that you’ll get the best experience gazing at the cosmos if you get away from any sources of light pollution, give your eyeballs some time to adjust to the darkness, and review our stargazing tips before setting out into the night.

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