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This week is all about the moon, kicking off with the 57th anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing today followed by the first quarter phase and a whole mess of lunar skywatching targets in the week that follows!
We've also got a stunning lunar rendezvous with Antares to look forward to, while fans of planetary nebulas — basically everyone — can try their hands at spotting the Ring Nebula glowing in the constellation Lyra before the waxing moon bleaches the sky with its light.
This issue also includes the best places in the U.S. and Canada to see Perseid meteors, and why now is a great time to spot early shooting stars ahead of the shower's peak on Aug. 12-13. Why not also read up on my expedition to central Spain to catch my first ever total solar eclipse on Aug. 12, along with our roundup of the 10 best locations for seeing a deep partial eclipse from the U.K.?
Here's what to watch for this week.
Clear skies,
Anthony Wood
Skywatching Writer, Space.com
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Tonight marks the 57th anniversary of the historic Apollo 11 moon landing, during which astronauts Neil Armstrong and Edwin Eugene "Buzz" Aldrin descended to the powdery surface of the Sea of Tranquility to place humanity's first steps on another world.
Their landing site, Tranquility Base, is beautifully lit to the right of the terminator separating night from day on July 20. The hardware left behind is far too small to spot with even the most powerful of telescopes from Earth. But you can find the region containing Tranquility Base with the help of the nearby Ritter, Sabine and Moltke craters!
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Follow the terminator south from the equator with a telescope to lay eyes on the shadow-drenched forms of Ptolemaeus, Alphonsus and Arzachel — a spectacular chain of impact sites known collectively as the Ptolemaeus trio. They will be even more spectacular on the following night, as sunlight bathes the interiors of the colossal walled plains, revealing the shadows cast by Alphonsus and Azachel's prominent central peaks.
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Look to the southwest of the Ptolemaeus Trio on July 22 and try to find the perfect straight line of Rupis Recta, also known as the "Straight Wall", scarring the dark expanse of Mare Nubium. While it may look somewhat artificial, the shadowy line is in reality a vast geological fault known as a scarp, where the lunar surface has shifted to create a great cliff that casts a sharp shadow on the landscape beyond.
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July 23 is a great time to spot the famous Ring Nebula shining like a ghostly doughnut in the constellation Lyra. First, locate Vega shining brightly above the eastern horizon in the hours following sunset, and pick out the four dimmer stars arrayed in a parallelogram below. The Ring Nebula can be found glowing between the bottom two stars of the constellation and is best viewed using the averted vision technique, by placing the nebula at the edge of your vision.
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See the bright red star close to the upper right of the waxing moon on July 24? That's Antares, the red supergiant also known as the "heart of the scorpion" owing to its central position in the constellation Scorpius. The moon and Antares will be separated by less than 3 degrees at sunset, making for a spectacular view through a pair of 10x50 binoculars.
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Grab your binoculars and sweep them over the moon to trace bright streaks of material emanating from the Tycho and Copernicus impact craters, which dominate the southern and western regions of the lunar disk. The ejecta rays were created in the aftermath of the violent impacts that formed the craters, as fresh, reflective material dredged up from beneath the moon's surface was cast far across its broken landscape.
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Find the famous stars of the Big Dipper shining above the northwestern horizon at sunset and locate the star in the middle of the handle. A pair of binoculars will reveal it to be not one, but two stars, called Mizar, the "Horse" and Alcor, the "Rider".
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The moon reaches its first quarter phase at 7:06 a.m. EDT (1106 GMT) on July 21, when the lunar disk will appear with its right half lit and its left veiled in shadow as it drifts below the stars of the constellation Virgo, with the bright star Spica glowing just above. The first quarter phase is the perfect time to spot a magnificent array of craters lining the terminator separating night from day, along with the sweeping expanses of the lunar seas dominating the sunlit side.
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The Perseid meteor shower begins on July 17 alongside two others, making "shooting stars" likely any night this month and next.
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A partial solar eclipse by day and the peak of the Perseid meteor shower by night make Aug. 12, 2026, one of the best nights for skywatching and camping in years, but only for some parts of North America.
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Our new Space.com app takes you out of this world, every day, for the latest space mission news, astronomical discoveries, night sky guides and more.
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Valoria la Buena, here we come.
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August 12 will see the deepest partial solar eclipse in the U.K. for many decades, hours before the peak of the annual Perseid meteor shower. Here's where to go.
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| Astronomy Kit and Accessories |
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The best solar telescopes suitable for the next solar eclipse.
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These are the best telescopes for stargazing, with top models from Celestron, Unistellar and more, rigorously tested by our experts.
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