2025, July 5-8: Moon Passes Scorpius

July 5-8, 2025: The moon phase grows as the lunar orb appears farther eastward each night.  It passes Scorpius.  Find it in the southern sky after sunset.

November 27, 2020: The gibbous moon.
November 27, 2020: The gibbous moon.

by Jeffrey L. Hunt

Waxing Moon, Scorpius

Waxing Moon, July 5-8, 2025
Chart Caption – 2025, July 5-8: The moon waxes as it passes Scorpius’ brightest stars.

From night-to-night, the moon moves farther eastward and its phase waxes.  It passes Scorpius as the Full Buck moon approaches.

Use a binocular to see the starfield in this moonlight. Here’s what to see an hour after sunset:

  • July 5: Over 25° up in the south, the lunar orb, 79% illuminated, is 7.3° to Zubenelgenubi’s lower left, Libra’s brightest star. This star’s name means “the southern claw,” from its early affiliation with the Scorpion. Graffias, also known as Beta Scorpii, is 7.7° to the moon’s upper left.
  • July 6: The moon, 86% illuminated, is over 20° above the southern horizon.  It is 7.7° to the upper right of rosy Antares, placed at the Scorpion’s heart in celestial artwork. Use the binocular to spot the star Pi Scorpii (π Sco on the chart) 0.8° to the lunar orb’s left.  Before midnight Central Time, the moon occults or eclipses this star for sky watchers across the US, southern Canada, Mexico, Central America, and northern South America.
  • July 7: The moon, 92% illuminated, is less than 15° above the south-southeast horizon.  It is nearly 17° to the lower left of Antares.  The moon occults this bright star from southern Africa.
  • July 8: Approaching the Full phase, the moon, 97% illuminated, is less than 15° above the south-southeast horizon.  It is over 8° to the upper left of Shaula and Lesath – at the Scorpion’s tail and stinger.

Look for the changing place of the moon against the Scorpion as the Buck moon approaches.

LATEST ARTICLES