July 14-18, 2025: Before sunrise, the waning moves eastward and passes Saturn.
by Jeffrey L. Hunt
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VENUS AS A MORNING STAR, 2025
An hour before sunrise, the morning waning moon is in the southern sky. Each morning it is farther eastward. Saturn is halfway from the south-southeast horizon to overhead. Look for the changing place of the moon each morning.
Moon’s Highlights
One hour before sunrise, here’s what to see:
- July 14: The bright gibbous moon, 87% illuminated, is less than halfway up in the south-southwest. It is nearly 30° to the lower right of Saturn. Look for the star Fomalhaut, the mouth of the Southern Fish, about 25° to the moon’s lower left. The star Deneb Kaitos, Cetus’ tail, is nearly 20° to Saturn’s lower left, about halfway from the horizon to the planet.
- July 15: The moon, 78% illuminated, is less than halfway up in the south, 13° to Saturn’s lower right. It is nearly 25° above Fomalhaut.
Saturn-Moon Conjunction
- July 16: The waning moon, 68% illuminated, is over halfway up in the south-southeast, 2.9° above Saturn. Neptune is in the region, but the moon’s light combined with morning twilight overwhelms our view of the most-distant planet in the solar system.
- July 17: The slightly gibbous moon, 57% illuminated, is nearly 50° up in the southeast. It is 15° to the left of Saturn. The lunar orb reaches the morning half-full phase, known as Last Quarter, at 7:38 p.m. CDT, before it rises in the Americas.
- July 18: The thick crescent moon, 46% illuminated, is 45° up in the east-southeast, and the same distance east of Saturn. It is 10° to the lower right of Hamal, Aries’ brightest star.
Watch the moon move eastward each clear morning, passing Saturn on the 16th. It overtakes Venus on the 21st.
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