Warm summer nights, far cooler than daytime highs, make astronomy a pleasant hobby. One doesn’t have to put on a coat or dress in any special way. Bug repellant may be needed, but not always if your favorite night time spot is perfect and the bugs are somewhere else.

The gibbous moon will dominate our evening sky in the nights ahead, culminating with a full moon at the end of the coming week. Friday night, the moon appears high in the southeastern sky after sunset. The moon is in the zodiacal constellation Libra, and not far from the bright planet Saturn.

The moon appears right next to Saturn Friday night. The two are in the zodiacal constellation Scorpius. There is no mistaking Saturn for it is the brightest “star” in that area of the sky. There are a number of bright stars. Antares, the principal star in Scorpius, has a reddish tint. It appears a short distance below Saturn.

The moon will be full on Friday, July 31. It is the Fisherman’s Moon. It is also a blue moon, named because it is the second full moon in the month. Each night in the coming week, leading up to next Friday, offers a brighter and an apparently bigger moon. The moon resides in our southern sky. For those standing on the shoreline of South Beach, this is a moon that lights a narrow path across the water from just below the moon to the observer.