July Astronomy: The Planets and the Moon Line Up to Create a Fantastic Early Morning Show

Many beautiful events involving the moon and planets—against a striking background of stars—will reward early risers this July. Predawn skies feature a display of the three bright outer planets, all easily visible to the unaided eye. The best time to look throughout the month is about 75 minutes before sunrise. At that time, Jupiter, gleaming at magnitude -2 in east-northeast to east, appears as the brightest “star” in the sky. The other two planets glow at first magnitude—or only 1/16, …