Mercury - undergoes it's best morning apparition of 2007 for observers in the northern hemisphere. From July 18 to July 28, it's at least 10 degrees above the horizon in the east-northeast from our latitude of 40 degrees north. Mercury is 37 percent illuminated and shines at magnitude 0.3 when it is at greatest western elongation on July 20.

Venus - Venus and Saturn are in conjunction on the evening of July 1, when they will be separated by just 47 arc seconds. At that time, Venus (magnitude -4.6) is over 100 times brighter than Saturn (magnitude 0.6). Venus drops in altitude as it dives sunward after the middle of the month, the time of the planet?s greatest brilliance (magnitude -4.7). As it does so, it becomes an increasingly thin crescent, decreasing in illumination from 35 to 9 percent. At the same time, Venus grows noticeably in apparent size from 32 to 51 arc seconds. Venus sets only 40 minutes after the Sun by the end of July.

Mars - rises just before 2:00 a.m. EDT at the beginning of the month and by 1:00 at month's end. During that time, the Red Planet brightens from magnitude 0.7 to 0.5 but at 7 arc seconds is still too small for serious observation. On July 27, Mars passes from Aries into Taurus. It is located 7 degrees southwest of the bright open cluster M45 by July 31.

Jupiter - continues to shine brightly just 5 degrees to the north-northeast of Antares. On the night of July 25, the inner Galilean satellites Io and Europa are to the west of the planet, while the outer satellites Ganymede and Callisto are to the east of Jupiter at 10:30 p.m. EDT. Click here to determine transit times of the central meridian by the Great Red Spot.

For detailed postions of Jupiter's Moons try this interactive javascript utility.

Saturn - rapidly drops away from Venus after their close conjunction on the night of July 1. By July 4, Saturn is almost 4 degrees to the lower right of Venus and by July 31 it is 6 degrees distant. On the night of July 16, a young crescent Moon lies between Saturn and Venus.

The Cassini spacecraft continues its observation of Saturn and its many moons and rings. For the latest images from Cassini, see:

http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/home/index.cfm

For detailed postions of Saturn's Moons try this interactive javascript utility.

Uranus - is positioned between Phi (magnitude 4.2) and 96 Aquarii (magnitude 5.6) in eastern Aquarius. It is 0.9 degree northeast of Phi on July 31.

A finder chart for Uranus can be found on page 66 of the May issue of Sky & Telescope.

Neptune is located approximately 2.3 degrees north of the fourth magnitude star Gamma Capricorni.

A finder chart for Neptune can be found on page 66 of the May issue of Sky & Telescope.

Pluto -is well placed in the southern sky on July evenings. It lies between the bright open cluster M23 and Xi Serpentis, about 8 degrees due west of the bright emission nebula M17 in Sagittarius.

Eris (pronounced "EE-ris") - formerly known as Xena, 2003 UB313, and "the tenth planet" - is magnitude 19 in central Cetus, high in the south during evening.

For detailed information please visit Astronomical Delights

Comet C/2006 VZ13 (LINEAR) - travels through Draco and into Bootes during July. On the night of July 13, the tenth magnitude comet passes within one degree of the tenth magnitude lenticular galaxy M102. Nine nights later it is just 30 arc minutes away from the bright globular cluster M3.

Asteroid 4 Vesta -dims from magnitude 6.1 to magnitude 6.7 this month. As July begins, it lies to the north of Graffias (Beta Scorpii). The asteroid heads southward towards Nu Scorpii as the month progresses.

For a finder chart, see: http://skytonight.com/observing/home/Vesta