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Ephemeris: 07/18/2025 – The summer Milky Way is beginning to make itself seen

July 18, 2025 Comments off

This is Ephemeris for Friday, July 18th. Today the Sun will be up for 15 hours and 8 minutes, setting at 9:23, and it will rise tomorrow at 6:15. The Moon, 1 day past last quarter, will rise at 1:07 tomorrow morning.

The summer Milky Way is beginning to make itself seen. It runs from the north northeast through the sky in the east, and through the stars Deneb and Altair of the Summer Triangle down to the south-southeastern horizon. One has to stay up to 11 PM or later to actually enjoy it. Another prerequisite is that one has to be away from the city lights. Here in Northern Michigan we have a lot of dark skies and only small towns, so it is easy to get away from city lights. To the ancients and relatively primitive cultures without the curse of the electric illumination, it was a wonder. In Greece, Rome and Egypt it was a milky stream, from which we get the term Milky Way. Some cultures considered it the path that souls took after death on their journey to the hereafter.

The astronomical event times given in this blog are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan (Lat 44.7° N, Long 85.7° W; EDT, UT – 4 hours) unless stated otherwise. Times will be different for other locations.

Addendum

The sky dome at 11:00 PM in mid-July showing the Milky Way somewhat enhanced in brightness in two views: one with the constellation lines, one without. I omitted the constellation labels because it clutters the image. Although the Big Dipper is obvious in the northwest and in the south the Teapot of the constellation Sagittarius and also Scorpius are too. There is a slight glow in the northwest because astronomical twilight hasn’t yet ended. Created using Stellarium, and GIMP.

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