NASA July 2026 skywatching: comet, Saturn's thin rings and the Milky Way

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A predawn Moon-and-planets meetup, a returning comet, a great chance to see the Milky Way, and Saturn’s rings at a new angle.

Skywatching Highlights

July 7: Last Quarter Moon

July 11 + 12: Dawn alignment of the Moon, Mars, Saturn, and Uranus

July 14: New Moon; best dark-sky window for Comet 10P/Tempel 2 and the Milky Way

Later in July: Saturn’s unusually thin rings are a rewarding telescope target

July 21: First Quarter Moon

July 29: Full Moon

Transcript

An early morning hangout with the Moon and planets, a comet swings by, prime time for the Milky Way, and Saturn’s rings shine at a new angle. That’s What’s Up for July.

Before sunrise on July 11 and 12, look toward the eastern sky for a lineup of the Moon and planets. On these mornings, the waning crescent Moon helps point the way to Mars, with Saturn shining nearby in the morning sky.

Uranus is in the same general part of the sky, too, but it is much fainter, so you will need binoculars or a telescope to see it.

Mars will look like a small reddish point of light, Saturn is brighter and easier to spot, and the Moon makes the whole scene easy to locate.

Before sunrise on July 11 and 12, the Moon, Mars, Saturn, and Uranus will parade in the eastern sky.

NASA

Around the New Moon on July 14, Comet 10P/Tempel 2 swings by.

This is a short-period comet, meaning it returns to the inner solar system on a regular orbit. In this case, it comes back about every 5½ years. It is not a dramatic comet that you see just by looking up at the sky, though.

Through binoculars or a telescope, find the constellation Capricornus and look for a small fuzzy glow nearby, possibly with a brighter central knot and a short, broad, fan-shaped tail.

For the best chance to view the comet, head somewhere dark, away from city lights. Start looking once the sky is fully dark, ideally about 45 to 60 minutes after sunset.

NASA/JPL-Caltech

Those same dark nights around the July 14 New Moon are also the best time this month to look for the Milky Way.

From a dark location, away from city lights, the Milky Way appears as a pale, cloudy band across the summer sky. The bright, cloudy region of the Milky Way marks the direction of the galactic center. It looks so dense because we’re looking toward one of the most crowded parts of our galaxy, where countless stars glow behind dark clouds of cosmic dust.

Late in the evening, look low in the southern sky for a group of stars shaped like a big hook or scorpion tail. That’s Scorpius. The bright, cloudy part of the Milky Way is nearby, close to another group of stars called Sagittarius.

For the best chance to see the Milky Way, go somewhere dark, give your eyes time to adjust, and try not to look at your phone.

NASA/JPL-Caltech

Later in July, Saturn is a rewarding target for telescope users.

Saturn’s rings are still tilted at a very shallow angle from our point of view, making them look unusually thin. The rings aren’t disappearing, but how they appear from Earth is changing. It’s a great reminder that our view of the solar system is always in motion.

Saturn is famous for the intriguing rings that encircle it. As Saturn orbits the Sun, though, our view of its rings changes. Roughly every 15 years (halfway through Saturn’s almost-30-year orbit), Saturn’s rings appear edge-on, sometimes seeming to disappear altogether. On Feb. 24, 2009, when Saturn’s rings were nearly edge-on, Hubble tracked four of Saturn’s moons as they passed across the face of the giant ringed planet.

NASA, ESA, and the Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA)

Here are the phases of the Moon for July.

NASA/JPL-Caltech

You can stay up to date on all of NASA’s missions exploring the solar system and beyond at science.nasa.gov . I’m Raquel Villanueva from NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, and that’s What’s Up for this month.

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