2025, July 17: Look for the Milky Way

July 17, 2025: With the moon rising after midnight, look for the Milky Way, the rim of our galaxy.

This stunning image, captured by the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope’s Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS), shows part of the sky in the constellation of Sagittarius (The Archer). The region is rendered in exquisite detail — deep red and bright blue stars are scattered across the frame, set against a background of thousands of more distant stars and galaxies. Two features are particularly striking: the colors of the stars, and the dramatic crosses that burst from the centers of the brightest bodies.
This stunning image, captured by the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope’s Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS), shows part of the sky in the constellation of Sagittarius (The Archer). The region is rendered in exquisite detail — deep red and bright blue stars are scattered across the frame, set against a background of thousands of more distant stars and galaxies.(NASA)

by Jeffrey L. Hunt

Chicago, Illinois: Sunrise, 5:31 a.m. CDT; Sunset, 8:23 p.m. CDT.  Check local sources for sunrise and sunset times. Times are calculated by the US Naval Observatory’s MICA computer program.

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Milky Way Trip

The Pillars of Creation in the Eagle Nebula captured in infrared light by Hubble. The light from young stars being formed pierce the clouds of dust and gas in the infrared. Credit: NASA, ESA, and the Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA)
Photo Caption – The Pillars of Creation in the Eagle Nebula captured in infrared light by Hubble. The light from young stars being formed pierce the clouds of dust and gas in the infrared. Credit: NASA, ESA, and the Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA)

With the moon rising after midnight and not brightening in the evening sky until the 28th, drive to the country away from city lights. Take along a binocular. After arriving, allow your eyes to adjust to the darkness, and avoid car lights and outdoor lighting.  In a park or other remote area, the dimmer celestial wonders, washed out by outdoor lighting, become visible.

After the current span, moonless windows for Milky Way viewing occurs August 14-28 and September 15-27.

View The Milky Way

This image shows the star-studded center of the Milky Way towards the constellation of Sagittarius. The crowded center of our galaxy contains numerous complex and mysterious objects that are usually hidden at optical wavelengths by clouds of dust — but many are visible here in these infrared observations from the Hubble Space Telescope.
Photo Caption – This image shows the star-studded center of the Milky Way towards the constellation of Sagittarius. The crowded center of our galaxy contains numerous complex and mysterious objects that are usually hidden at optical wavelengths by clouds of dust — but many are visible here in these infrared observations from the Hubble Space Telescope. (Photo Credit: ESA, NASA)

The band of light is from the gentle glow of stellar concentrations and the soft glow of hydrogen clouds.  It arcs from the southern horizon, across the eastern sky and into the north-northeast horizon as twilight ends.  From Earth’s rotation, the ribbon arches across the sky from the southwest horizon, nearly overhead, and into the northeast horizon as the night progresses.

At the mid-northern latitudes, evening twilight ends two hours after sunset and begins at the same interval before daylight.  Early summer’s darkness only lasts five hours between the phases of evening and morning twilight.

First Find the Night’s Bright Stars

Begin by identifying the season’s bright stars. Six of the 15 brightest stars visible from the mid-northern latitudes are in the sky as evening twilight ends.  They are Arcturus (number 2), Vega (3), Altair (8), Spica (10), Antares (11) and Deneb (14). 

The Summer Triangle
Chart Caption – Mid-July: The Summer Triangle – Vega, Altair, and Deneb – is in the eastern sky. Cygnus seems to fly southward along the Milky Way.

The Summer Triangle – made of Vega, Altair, and Deneb – is high in eastern sky.  Blue-white Vega is the highest corner of the triangle. Altair is about halfway up in the east-southeast.  Deneb, over halfway up in the east-northeast, is the tail of Cygnus, which appears to be flying southward along the Milky Way. Albireo marks the head of the Swan.

In the West

Arcturus and Spica.
Chart Caption – Mid-July: Arcturus and Spica are in the western sky after twilight ends.

Topaz Arcturus begins the darkness period halfway up in the west-southwest, while blue-white Spica is only one-third of the altitude of the north land’s second brightest star.

Antares is Near Greatest Galactic Concentration

Antares, June 24, 2025
Photo Caption – 2025, June 24: Antares, Scorpius’ brightest stars. (Photo by TLH)

Antares, marking the heart of the Scorpion is in the southern sky, about one-fourth of the way from the horizon to overhead.  It is west of the dense region identified as the center of the galaxy.

Look at the Sagittarius Region

The Milky Way near Sagittarius
Photo Caption – 2025, June 21: The Milky Way in the Sagittarius region. (Photo by TLH)

The Teapot of Sagittarius, the Archer’s brightest stars, is low in the southern sky.  It provides a foreground for the pretty sights in this area of the galaxy.  The accompanying photograph, captured in a one-second exposure on a smartphone camera, shows several galactic features that are visible to the unaided eye and through a binocular.  Here’s what’s there:

  • Messier 7 (M 7): Charles Messier was an 18th century sky watcher who was a comet hunter.  He identified over 100 celestial bodies that should not be misidentified as a comet.  Spotting all of the objects on the list is the goal of backyard sky watchers and in their lingo, they are named as “M” objects. M 7 is an open cluster, similar to the Pleiades and Hyades, near the tail of Scorpius, marked by Shaula and Lesath.
  • M8: Also known as the Lagoon Nebula, it is a gaseous hydrogen cloud, gently glowing like a neon light from nearby stars. It is named from a slender band of dust that seems to cut the cloud into two parts. It is about 1°– two full moon diameters – across and about one full moon high.  It is barely perceptible to human vision without optical help.
  • M16: The Eagle Nebula is a star cluster and a nebula. This is the nebula famous for its Pillars of Creation images. (See the image above)
  • M17: The Omega Nebula is another star cluster and nebula.  Its name is from its shape, sometimes known as the Horseshoe Nebula.
  • M20: The Trifid Nebula, near M8, is named for three lobes made from dust lanes. Considerably smaller than its neighbor, this gas cloud is about the size of the moon.
  • M24: Also known as the Sagittarius Star Cloud, it is easily recognized without a binocular.
  • Great Rift: Extends from Sagittarius to Cygnus.  It is a ribbon of darkness that runs along the length of the Milky Way.  It is dust that blocks the light of distant star clouds and concentrations.

Visit a remote spot and look for the wonders of the Milky Way when moonlight does not interfere with the view.

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