Today's Sky

Montage of planets This montage of images taken by the Voyager spacecraft of the planets and four of Jupiter's moons is set against a false-color Rosette Nebula with Earth's moon in the foreground. Image courtesy of NASA

2008 Night Sky Events

To keep up to date on the phases of the Moon and the positions of the planets, as well as everything else in the night sky, download the free planetarium software Cartes du Ciel at this link.

Moon Phases (click here for the US Navel Observatory Moon phase calendar)

First Quarter - July 10

Full Moon - July 18

Last Quarter - July 25

New Moon - Aug 1

Planets (Positions current as of June 9, 2008)

Mercury - Not currently visible.

Venus - Not currently visible.

Earth - Look Down!

Mars -Sets with Saturn in the west shortly after sunset.

Jupiter - Rises in the southeast at sunset in the constellation Sagittarius.

Saturn - Sets with Mars in the west shortly after sunset.

Uranus - Uranus is visible to the naked eye but only with very dark skies and if you know exactly where to look (refer to star charts or planetarium software for location).

Neptune - Neptune is visible only with the aid of a telescope (refer to star charts or planetarium software for location).

Pluto and Charon - not visible to the naked eye (refer to star charts or planetarium software).