Special to CosmicTribune.com, August 4, 2025

Excerpts from weekly Sky&Telescope report.

SUNDAY, AUGUST 3

■ This evening the waxing gibbous Moon hangs hardly more than 1° below orange Antares, the 1st-magnitude heart of Scorpius.

MONDAY AUGUST 4

■ Now the thickening, brightening gibbous Moon shines midway between Antares to its right and the spout of the Sagittarius Teapot to its left.

TUESDAY, AUGUST 5

■ This evening for North America, the Moon sits where the Teapot’s spout joins its body. To bring out the Teapot’s 2nd- and 3rd-magnitude stars, cover the Moon with a fingertip to hide its bright glare. Or better, use two fingertips, one for each eye. Close one eye and position a fingertip onto the Moon, then do the same for the other eye with another fingertip. Then without moving, open both eyes.

WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 6

■ Now the Moon is just left of the Teapot’s handle.

THURSDAY, AUGUST 7

■ Vega passes its closest to overhead around 10 or 11 p.m. now, depending on how far east or west you are in your time zone.

Deneb crosses closest to the zenith almost exactly two hours after Vega. But to see Deneb straight up you need to be farther north, close to latitude 45°: Portland, Minneapolis, Montreal, central Maine, southern France, northern Italy, Odesa, Kherson.

FRIDAY, AUGUST 8

■ Week after week now, distant little Mars stays practically on station at the same height low in the west-northwest in twilight. Its long apparition drags on and on: Mars will continue to set around the end of twilight into early fall (for observers at mid-northern latitudes), and it won’t reach conjunction with the Sun until the beginning of 2026.

Can you still pick out Mars and Spica low toward the west-southwest as twilight fades? They’re now 23° apart, about two fists at arm’s length. Bring binoculars.

SATURDAY, AUGUST 9

■ The two brightest stars of summer are Vega, overhead shortly after nightfall, and Arcturus, shining in the west. Draw a line down from Vega to Arcturus. A third of the way down, the line crosses the dim Keystone of Hercules. Two thirds of the way down it crosses the dim semicircle of Corona Borealis with its one modestly bright star, Alphecca or Gemma. If you’ve been watching for the supposed next explosion of T Coronae Borealis, it has now gone half of another summer unexploded.

■ Vega and the Keystone’s star closest to it form an equilateral triangle with 2nd-magnitude Eltanin to their north, the nose of Draco the Dragon. Eltanin is the brightest star of Draco’s quadrilateral head; he’s eyeing Vega.

SUNDAY, AUGUST 10

■ This is the time of year when the Big Dipper scoops down in the northwest during evening, as if to pick up the water that it will dump from high overhead in the evenings of next spring.

■ Are you seeing any early Perseid meteors yet? Despite the moonlight? The Perseids are active at noticeable levels for many days before and several days after their peak, which this year is predicted for the night of August 12-13.

  August 4-10: Perseid meteor shower begin, The Sky