The beautiful, ringed planet Saturn rules the night sky this month in the Name A Star Live constellation Virgo.  You can use the Moon to find this astronomical jewel, and use just about any telescope to see its rings!

Saturn is an excellent telescopic object this summer.  For those of you in the northern hemisphere of Earth (e.g., North America, Europe, Japan) Saturn will appear above your southern horizon after sunset.  For those of you in the southern hemisphere (e.g., Australia, New Zealand, South America — where it is winter, by the way) Saturn will appear above your northern horizon after sunset.  You can use the Moon to find Saturn the evening of July 16 (July 17 for those of you in the southern hemisphere) when the Moon will appear next to the ringed planet.  Saturn is in the Name A Star Live constellation Virgo this month.  Spica — the brightest star in Virgo — appears nearby.

You can also use the Moon to find Venus this month.  Shortly after sunset on July 10 (July 11 for those of you in the southern hemisphere), look toward the west and you’ll see the thin, crescent Moon near Venus — a very prominent, bright point of light.

Finding your star in the night sky

Stars are located within constellations, which are just areas of the night sky. Scorpius, Aries and Taurus are examples of constellations. Your Name A Star Live Star Certificate displays the name of your constellation. You can use our online World Constellation Guide to determine if you can see your constellation during the evening hours (between sunset and midnight). Of course, you’ll need a telescope to see your star. But you can see your constellation without the use of a telescope. You can also find your constellation by using our Virtual Planetarium™ astronomy software. A planisphere is another useful device.