What To Observe in July

The night sky in Ireland, in July 2026

For observers in Ireland, July is a bit of an odd month astronomically — the nights are short and never get completely dark until later in the month, but there's still plenty worth seeing.

🌌 The Milky Way returns

In July, the bright band of the Milky Way begins to become visible in truly dark locations, stretching across the night sky, brightest and central area to the south.

Best viewing:

• After midnight
• Away from towns and cities
• On moonless nights

⭐ The Summer Triangle

High overhead you'll find the famous Summer Triangle:

• Vega - Mag 0, the 5th brightest star in night sky, 25 light years away
• Deneb - Mag 1.2, blue supergiant, 2600 light years away
• Altair - Mag 0.77, 12th brightest in night sky, 17 light years away

These three bright stars dominate the summer sky and are easy to spot even from suburban locations.

🪐 Planets

For July, we have:

• Venus, brightest thing in evening sky, in the West, low down, close to the Moon on 17th. 
• Mars rises around 230am, magnitude 1.3, Rises earlier as the month goes on. Near Aldebaran on 13th July
• Saturn rises around 1am, in Pisces, earlier as the month goes on.
• Uranus is near to Mars, barely visible to naked eye, in dark skies. A telescope is best. They are closest on 4th.
  

🔭 Great telescope targets

For small telescopes and tabletop scopes:

• The Beehive Cluster, M44, in Cancer
• Dumbbell Nebula, M27, in Vulpecula
• The Ring Nebula, M57, in Lyra
• The Hercules Globular Cluster, M13, in Hercules
• Albireo, double star in Cygnus
• M81 and M82 galaxies in Ursa Major (The Plough)

🌙 Moon highlights

The Moon is often the best target during bright summer evenings:

• Full Moon was 29th June, so begin the month with waning Moon.
• 7th July is last quarter
• 14th is new Moon, so best for dark sky observing
• 21st is first quarter
• 29th July, Full Moon.