July 2026 Night Sky Events: What to Watch For

July 2026 offers plenty of great chances to look up at the night sky. From close planet pairings to meteor showers, here is what you should look out for this month.

Key July Sky Events

You don't need heavy gear to enjoy most of these sights, but grabbing some binoculars will help.

• July 4 - Mars and Uranus: Mars and Uranus will be very close in the sky. You can easily spot Mars as a red dot, but you will need binoculars to see Uranus right next to it.
• July 7 to 8 - Saturn and the Moon: After midnight, the moon and Saturn will sit close together in the east. Mars and the Pleiades star cluster will also show up nearby right before sunrise.
• July 14 - New Moon: The moon will give off almost zero light, making the sky very dark. This is the absolute best time to go away from city lights and look at the Milky Way.
• July 17 - Venus and the Moon: Right after the sun sets, look west to see a thin crescent moon sitting right next to a super bright Venus. They will only be visible for about two hours.
• July 28 to 29 - The Buck Moon: The full moon hits its peak on the morning of July 29. It is called the Buck Moon because this is the time of year when male deer grow their antlers.
• July 30 to 31 - Meteor Shower: The Southern Delta Aquariid meteor shower peaks during the early morning hours. It is a mild shower, giving about 20 meteors per hour if the sky is totally dark.