Mornings

Mercury, spending most of July low in the west in the early evening dusk, appears highest above the setting Sun around mid-month.

Venus

Mars

Jupiter rises several hours before sunrise and is easily the brightest object in the eastern sky before dawn.

Saturn, well up in the southwest in the evening sky, will soon be setting before midnight.

Scorpius the Scorpion is one of the few constellations that actually look somewhat like what they are supposed to represent in the night sky. Facing south soon after dark, look for a large fish-hook shaped pattern fairly low with a bright reddish star at the upper right end. That red star, Antares, is the scorpion’s head; the stars to its upper right are its pinchers. Its body winds downward to the left before curling up to form the tail; at the end of the tail are two close stars, the brighter of which is Shaula, the scorpion’s stinger. If you’re fortunate enough to be viewing from dark skies, note that Scorpius is seen against the glow of the Milky Way which is rising from the horizon toward the upper left.

In Greek mythology it was the duty of Scorpius to sting and kill Orion the Hunter who had offended one of the gods with his overly macho behavior. Another of the gods friendly to Orion, in return, killed Scorpius. Both were then placed in the sky by their respective guardian gods. But in a moment of rationality, the gods agreed they didn’t want Orion and Scorpius fighting throughout eternity, so Orion was placed in the winter sky and Scorpius in the summer sky. As the Greek philosopher-poet Aratos of Soloi (c. 310 - 245 BCE) wrote, "When the Scorpion come, Orion flies to the utmost end of earth," thus they are never in the sky at the same time. (Humm...that might be a strategy worth considering here on Earth. Let’s see, would the Democrats or the Republicans get the summer or winter?)

Antares, the bright reddish star representing the head of Scorpius the Scorpion, is a red giant nearing the end of its life. Situated 600 light years away, Antares is vastly larger than our Sun, weighing in at 15-18 solar masses. Its diameter of 800 Suns means Antares, if it was at the center of our solar system, would swallow the four innermost solid planets – Mercury, Venus, Earth, and Mars – leaving only the four gas giants – Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune. When our Sun nears the end of its life, as all stars eventually do, it will expand and consume the inner three planets – and yes, that includes us. But since we’re talking 5 billion or so years down the road, don’t quit school or cash in your IRA.

According to most interpretations, the star’s name comes from ancient Greece and means "not Ares," "rival of Ares," or "anti-Ares," referring to Ares, the Greek god of war. (When the Romans later adopted Greek religion, the god of war was renamed Mars.) Since Antares is situated on the ecliptic – the path of the Sun, Moon and planets – the planet Mars regularly passes near Antares, and as they appear similar in brightness and color, the name makes sense to avoid confusing not-Mars with the real Mars.