In the western sky on the evening of Sunday, July 15, the young waxing crescent moon will take up a position between Venus and Regulus, the brightest star in Leo. The moon will sit 1.5 degrees west (to the right) of Venus and 4.5 degrees east (to the upper left) of the naked-eye star. As soon as you spot the moon in the bright early evening sky, try and find Venus and Regulus on either side of it using binoculars (orange circle), but take care to avoid the sun! Mars is growing brighter every night. On July 27, Mars will reach opposition. This is when Earth will be directly between Mars and the sun. Therefore, Mars will look very bright and grace the sky all night. It will be brighter than Jupiter!