What's in the Sky July 2025

Image credit: ESO/F. Char

Welcome to Bintel’s night sky guide for July, tailored for stargazers across Australia and New Zealand. Each month, we help answer some of the most common questions: What can I see in the sky tonight? Which planets are visible? What constellations are overhead right now?

This guide isn’t just a list of things to find—it’s a hand-picked selection of the best celestial sights this month, with tips to help you make the most of every clear night. And with winter in full swing, that means longer nights, better seeing, and some of the year’s best stargazing conditions.

Let’s take a look at what’s in the sky tonight.

What Planets can I see:

This month, we’ve got 5 planets on offer to be observed, including a great (and rare) opportunity to observe Mercury, Venus’s last stint as the Morning Star, and Saturn rising earlier and earlier at night (though still quite late). The Moon puts on a show early in the month before stepping aside for deep sky observing, and for those with a large telescope, Neptune makes a challenging but rewarding target before dawn.

The sky above Sydney this month in the early morning around 4am, when most of this month's planets will be visible.

MERCURY

Good times to view Mercury are few and far between, and July caps off your best chance to view the planet before its in conjunction with the Sun. It’ll be sitting low on the horizon, chasing the Sun as its sets. You’ll be able to catch a glimpse of it in early July just after sunset. Since it’s following the Sun, the view you get of this planet is reminiscent of a quarter moon, its size and proximity to the horizon make it a fun little challenge for anyone with a telescope or binoculars.

•    Best observing: First two weeks of the month, just after 5:30pm, with its best view on July 8th.

 

MARS

After you’ve spotted Mercury you can turn your gaze to the brilliant red planet, which will be low in the Western sky just after sunset. As we’ve said before when discussing Mars, there isn't an incredible amount of visible surface detail at the moment, but observing the Red Planet is always satisfying for all stargazers. 

•    Best observing: Throughout the month, around 5:30–6:00pm.

 

SATURN

Saturn is now approaching its best view for early risers, climbing high into the eastern sky before just dawn. Later this year the Earth will be on the plane of Saturn’s rings once more, meaning they’ll practically vanish from our view. July will pose as the best month to see the rings in a more open view.

•    Best observing: Later in the month, from 12:00 am onwards, best at 4:00 am.

Photo by Andy Casley from our Bintel Society Facebook group.

 

NEPTUNE

If you’re already up and viewing Saturn, why not try your hand at capturing a glimpse at the planet furthest from us, Neptune. Even in some of the biggest of telescopes, Neptune is but a blue dot. It’s important to remember when viewing such an object, you’re looking into the far reaches of our solar system, making it impressive just to see.

•    Best observing: Later in the month, from 12:00 am onwards, best at 4:00 am.

VENUS

Finally, we recommend looking at Earths sister planet, Venus. This bright planet is coined the “Morning Star”, since it appears in the Eastern Sky just before sunrise. It’s so bright, in fact, it can be seen with the naked eye. Much like the Moon and Mercuy, Venus has phases.  If you’ve got a telescope to view Venus this month, you’ll see it in Waxing Gibbous, where about 2/3 of the planet is illuminated by the Sun. 

•    Best observing: Early in the month, from 5:30am onwards.

 

 

 

Bintel Recommends for planetary Viewing:

For Beginners: At Bintel, we recommend the Celestron StarSense Explorer series as the ideal starting point for anyone wanting to view Saturn this season. These user-friendly telescopes eliminate the frustration of finding objects in the night sky by using your smartphone to guide you directly to Saturn.

For the best views: To get the best views of the planets this month, pair your telescope with a quality high power eyepiece like one of the Saxon Cielo HD 1.25" ED Eyepieces. These eyepieces represent a significant upgrade over those included with most telescopes, offering higher magnification to reveal Saturn's rings and Mars' surface details, better eye relief for comfortable extended viewing sessions, and a wider field of view that makes it easier to keep planets centred—transforming your experience from "I think I see something" to "Wow, I can actually see the rings!"

 

The Moon:

As per usual, the Moon is one of the most impressive objects to view in our night sky. Luckily in July it takes more of a backseat in the sky, letting the deep sky objects shine later in the month. But early in July, it’s stealing the show. The first two weeks of the month we see the Moon high in the sky between 6 and 10pm, with the full moon rising on the 10th. We mentioned last month that the best time to view objects is when sunlight casts a shadow along the surface of the Moon, as it enriches the shadows of the craters and mountain ranges on the surface. 

This is why on the 7th we recommend you look at the Gassendi Crater, home to both fractures and mountains. This 110km impact crater was discovered by Apollo 17, and whether you’re viewing with a pair of binoculars or a powerful telescope, this crater will give a fantastic view to take in.

The Gassendi Crater circled in yellow. Credit: Stellarium

 

Bintel Recommends: for Lunar observing

The Bintel Beginner Telescope Upgrade Kit. This essential kit enhances your lunar viewing experience with:

• A Moon Filter to reduce the moon’s bright glare and reveal fine details in craters and valleys.
• A comprehensive Moon Map to help identify the numerous lunar features on the moons surface.

Special Offer: Get the Bintel Beginner Telescope Upgrade Kit at a special 30% discount when purchased with any Celestron StarSense Explorer telescope.

 

What Deep Sky Objects Can I see:

 

If deep sky observing is your thing, July delivers a rich mix of targets — from nearby stars to sprawling nebulae and dense clusters. We start with the closest star system to our own, an easy target with a big story behind it. From there, it’s off to explore glowing star-forming regions, dense open clusters, and some of the most dramatic nebulae in the sky — including one where two cosmic dragons appear to be locked in battle.

 

Alpha Centauri

Image credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA

For deep sky objects this month we’re starting off with the 3rd brightest star in the night sky, and the closest stellar system to our own, Alpha Centauri. To the naked eye, Alpha Centauri appears as a single yellow-gold point of light in the sky, but through a telescope you’ll be able to split it into it’s two main component stars; Alpha Centauri A and B. The Alpha Centauri star system also includes the closest star to us, Proxima Centauri. This stellar wonder is a southern hemisphere exclusive, meaning only us southerners get to properly enjoy our nearest neighbour.

 

Visual

⭐⭐⭐⭐

Alpha Centauri is a really pleasing binary star system to split. It’s easy to find, being the 3rd brightest star in the sky, and even fairly small telescopes will be able to split them.  We’d recommend a telescope with at least 80mm of aperture and upwards of 100x magnification, but we’ve heard of them being split with less.

Smart Telescopes

⭐(⭐⭐)

You most likely won’t be able to split the binary with a smart telescope, however, an alternative target worth a shot is Proxima Centauri itself, which you can point to using the manual coordinates target function of most smart telescopes. The Coordinates for Proxima Centauri are (RA: 14h29m40.62s Dec: -62d40m38.70s). It’s a dim orange-red star that looks not too dissimilar to the other background stars, and so the image itself won’t be anything too impressive, but the fact that it’s our closest stellar neighbour makes it all the better to appreciate.

 

Astrophotography

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It’ll take a fairly long focal length telescope to split these two stars cleanly. While it won’t take you too many exposures, you might be better off spending your time imaging some of the other great targets on offer for astrophotography this month.

When and Where to See It

Alpha Centauri can be found as a very bright star near the constellation Crux (The Southern Cross), and is best observed between 6:30-7:30 pm.

The Fighting Dragons of Ara (NGC 6188)

Image credit: ESO/J. Pérez

Speaking of astrophotography targets, this is probably one of the best in the sky. In the wacky world of astronomical object names (the Running Chicken nebula anyone?) the Fighting Dragons of Ara nebula is one of the few that lives up to its name. Through a camera, you’ll see two great pillars of ionised Hydrogen gas, which are easy to imagine as taking the shape of fighting dragons. An astrophotographer’s favourite, and it’s not hard to see why.

 

Visual

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Visually, the Fighting Dragons of Ara are exceedingly dim, and are really best enjoyed with a camera rather than through the eyepiece. There are a few star clusters that share this region, but nothing to write home about. 

The Fighting Dragons of Ara in the field of view of a SeeStar S50 (small rectangle) and Dwarf 3 (large rectangle). Image credit: Stellarium.

Smart Telescopes

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A great target for smart telescopes, don’t forget to use your dualband filters to maximise detail for this object. If you’ve got a Dwarf 3, ZWO Seestar S30 or Vespera 2, this object is perfect. It only loses a mark due to being just a bit too large for smart telescope users with smaller fields of view, like those with ZWO Seestar S50s. Instead, I recommend pointing at the Dragon’s Egg nebula (NGC 6164), a small bright nebula surrounding a hot white star sitting right beside our main object. It's a target worthy of imaging in it’s own right.

 

Astrophotography

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As mentioned, the Fighting Dragons of Ara is an incredible target for astrophotographers, and is absolutely perfect for short focal length setups. This target really benefits from dualband filters if you’re using a one-shot colour camera, or a narrowband filter set if you’re using a mono camera instead. This object isn’t incredibly bright, so we’d recommend trying to get at least 2-3h plus of imaging time for this target for the best results.

When and Where to Observe

You’ll find the Fighting Dragons of Ara in well, the constellation of Ara of course! It’s visible from 6:00 onwards but best observed between 8:30-9:30pm.

 

 

 

THE FALSE COMET NEBULA

Image credit: Stellarium

 

Visual

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This is a great visual target, the star cluster is dense and packed with stars, very reminiscent of last month’s Jewl Box Nebula. It’s fairly easy to find, being positioned in the middle of Scorpius. This target is great for scopes of all sizes, and stands up quite well to light pollution, and so is a good target for those observing from the city. 

If you’d like to see the “comet” in full, you’ll need to head towards a dark sky, and when looking up, the star cluster forms the nucleus of the “comet”, and a trail of stars behind act as it’s “tail”. It’s easiest to see this with a pair of binoculars, but if you’re somewhere dark enough, you’ll be able to see it with your naked eye.

The False Comet Nebula in the field of view of a SeeStar S50 (small rectangle) and Dwarf 3 (large rectangle). Image credit: Stellarium.

Smart Telescopes

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 The False Comet Nebula as a great target for smart telescopes, as it’s size means it is framed well in the field of view of pretty much all smart telescopes, and it’s brightness means that even a few minutes of stacking can give you a really pleasing result. 

 

Astrophotography

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The False Comet Nebula is really more of a visual target than an imaging one. It’s not a bad option by any means, but there’s better targets in July to image. We recommend sticking to visual observing with this one.

 

When and Where to Observe
You’ll find the false comet nebula in the middle of the constellation Scorpius, and while it’s visible from 6:00 pm onwards, we recommend checking it out between 8:30 to 9:30 pm.

THE MILKY WAY

Image credit: ESO/F. Char

The final target we’d like to highlight this July is none other than our very own Galaxy, the Milky Way. Here in the southern hemisphere, we are truly privileged that the bright core of our Milky Way rises right overhead, as for those in the Northern side of the world it  only gets too a maximum of 30 degrees or so. This grand height means that only us in the south get to truly see and appreciate the Milky Way with its central core overhead and arms spanning out either side until the horizon. 

 

Visual

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The Milky Way arcing across the sky is one of the best sights to be seen for astronomers, and the best thing about it? No additional gear is needed, as the best way in our opinion to experience the Milky Way is to get out somewhere really dark, lie down and just watch. 

 

Smart Telescopes

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Sorry Smart telescope observers, this is really one for the Visual and astrophotography crowd. The large size of the Milky way means that you won’t be able to appreciate the whole thing with a smart telescope. You’re best suited to aiming at some of the targets within the Milky Way, Such as the aforementioned Fighting dragons of Ara and Prawn Nebula.

 

Astrophotography

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The Milky Way is probably the most photographed deep sky object, and for good reason. It’s easy to shoot, all you need is a DSLR, a tripod, and as dark skies as you can manage. Hopefully where you are the Milky Way will be bright enough that you can simply aim and shoot. We recommend for Milky Way photography focal lengths between 14mm-35mm. 
If you’d like to learn more about widefield astrophotography, we at Bintel are running a Widefield Workshop this July on the 25th. Tickets are almost sold out, so if you’re interested, get your tickets soon.

 

When and Where to Observe
If you’re somewhere fairly dark, the milky way is hard to miss. Look right overhead between 8:00-10:00pm, give some time for your eyes to adjust, and you should be able to spot it.

 

 

Honourable Mentions:

 

The Crab Globular Cluster (M4) and The Rose Cluster (M5)

The Crab Globular cluster. Image credit: ESO, acknowledgement: ESO Imaging Survey

Visual	⭐⭐⭐⭐
Smart Telescopes	⭐⭐⭐⭐
Astrophotography	⭐⭐⭐

The Crab and Rose globular clusters are the 4th and 5th brightest in the sky, making them excellent targets for both visual observers and smart telescopes at this time of year. They’re similar in overall brightness, but the Rose Cluster is a bit more compact, with a brighter central core. The Crab Cluster, on the other hand, climbs higher in the sky, giving it an edge for clarity. Let us know which one you prefer — I’m partial to M5 myself, but we’d love to hear what you think!

You can find The Crab globular cluster near the “head” of Scorpius, right next to Antares, while the Rose globular cluster lies somewhat alone in the Constellation of Serpens. The Crab globular cluster is visible from 6pm, but best observed between 8:30-9:30pm, while The Rose globular cluster, is also visible from 6pm, but is best observed between 7:00-8:00pm.

Need help finding this month's deep sky objects? Use our handy star map to guide you to all the objects we've mentioned this month.

That's our guide for July! You've plenty of options for what to observe this month, with grand nebulae, to our closest stellar neighbours. And of course, we've got 5 planets available to be observed, the most since March.

Our last word of advice this month? Whatever your observing with this month, make sure to take a moment for the Milky Way — stretching bright and wide overhead like nowhere else in the world.

Clear skies,

The Team at Bintel