The sun’s height in the sky is now past its highest point for this solar orbit. For the next several months, it appears lower in the sky each day at noon. As the noontime height lowers, the length of daylight decreases at the mid-northern latitudes. At the latitude of Chicago (42 degrees N), the length of daylight decrease by nearly 45 minutes during July. At month’s end the length of the day is about 14.5 hours.
On July 6, our planet reaches the farthest point in its revolution from the sun.
Sun
Moon
| Phase | Date/Time | Moonrise | Moonset |
| Full Moon | 07/01/15 (9:20 p.m.)07/31/15 (11:04 p.m.) | 7:59 p.m.7:27 p.m. (07/30) | 6:06 a.m. (07/02)6:00 a.m. (07/31) |
| Last Quarter | 07/08/15 (3:24 p.m.) | 12:06 a.m. | 12:59 p.m. |
| New Moon | 07/15/15 (8:24 p.m.) | 5:17 a.m. | 7:54 p.m. |
| First Quarter | 07/24/15 (11:04 p.m.) | 1:53 p.m. | 12:43 a.m. (07/25) |
| Times are Central Daylight Time for Chicago, Illinois, from US Naval Observatory calculations. (For mjb) |
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Notice the table above shows two full moons in this month, the so-called “Blue Moon” effect. The moon does not turn blue in this meaning; rather it refers to the infrequency of an event. The name has other meanings as well. A similar effect occurs during January 2018. These moons must occur during months with 31 days. Additionally, it is possible for February not to have a full moon because a month of phases takes 29.5 days.
On the evening of July 18, the crescent moon appears about 1 degree below Venus and nearly 7 degrees from Jupiter. The two planets are nearly 6 degrees apart.
On the evenings of July 25 and July 25, the moon appears near Saturn. On the chart above (July 26), the moon is about 9 degrees to the left of Saturn. On the previous night, the moon is 4 degrees to the right of Saturn.