July isn’t the most exciting month of the year for stargazing and plant-finding, but there are a handful of celestial events worth putting on your calendar in the coming weeks, including the meeting of multiple meteor showers leading up to the peak of the Perseids in mid-August.
Here’s when (and where) to look up.
July 2–4: Moon and Jupiter join up
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Mars and Jupiter are moving closer together from July to mid-August, and the latter will be particularly bright in the early morning hours of July 2–4 and close to the moon. EarthSky has several helpful diagrams for where those in the northern hemisphere should look in the hours before sunrise to spot Jupiter, Mars, and the Pleiades star cluster.
July 21: Full Buck Moon
This month’s full moon is expected to reach peak illumination at 6:14 am ET on July 21. The Buck Moon, also often known as the Thunder Moon, is believed to have gotten its name from the Native American lunar calendar and aligns with the time of year in which buck antlers are fully grown.
The 2024 Buck Moon is not a supermoon, but it will still be visible in the southeast after sunset.
July 29–30: Delta Aquariids peak
The Delta Aquariids will be active from July 18 to Aug. 21 with an expected peak on the nights of July 29 and 30. This meteor shower is fainter than some others throughout the year and is typically more visible in the southern hemisphere at a max rate of 15–20 meteors per hour. The moon will be only 30% full during the peak, and you may be able to spot the Delta Aquariids in the southwestern sky, particularly if you’re in the southern United States.
Note that the Perseids—typically the best show of the summer—begins on July 14 with a peak expected in mid-August and may be mixed in with the Aquariids.
July 30: Alpha Capricornids peak
The Capricornids, active from July 7 to Aug. 15, are small in number but very bright. You’re unlikely to see more than five per hour even during the peak, but the shower is visible in both the northern and southern hemispheres, and the sky will be relatively dark (with the moon 20% full) during the shower’s peak. Estimates of activity vary, but the best time to view it is in the final days of July around 4 a.m. ET.