🌙 Moon Phase This Week
🌒 Waxing Crescent → 🌓 First Quarter → 🌔 Waxing Gibbous
July 20
- Thin waxing crescent
- Visible shortly after sunset
- Dark evening skies continue
July 21
🌓 First Quarter Moon
- Rises around midday
- Highest near sunset
- Sets around midnight
July 22–26
🌔 Waxing Gibbous
- Moon rises later each afternoon
- Bright evenings return gradually
- Early evening still offers worthwhile deep-sky viewing before moonrise becomes dominant
🌌 Deep-Sky Highlights
⭐ Best nights: July 20–23
Northern Hemisphere:
- 🌌 M13 Globular Cluster (Hercules)
- 🌌 M92
- 🌌 Ring Nebula (M57)
- 🌌 Dumbbell Nebula (M27)
- 🌌 Lagoon Nebula (M8)
- 🌌 Trifid Nebula (M20)
- 🌌 Albireo, one of the most beautiful double stars in the sky
- 🌌 The Summer Triangle dominating the eastern sky
Southern Hemisphere:
- 🌌 Milky Way Core
- 🌌 Omega Centauri
- 🌌 Eta Carinae Nebula
- 🌌 Southern Cross
Although moonlight increases later in the week, early evenings remain rewarding for deep-sky observing.
☄️ Meteor Activity
The Southern Delta Aquariid Meteor Shower continues strengthening as it approaches its annual maximum.
This week you may spot:
- Fast-moving meteors
- Occasional bright fireballs
- Sporadic summer meteors
The shower hasn’t reached its peak yet, but activity is noticeably increasing.
Best viewing
Midnight until dawn
The hours before sunrise continue to produce the greatest number of meteors.