I like making photos of the clouds, whether in daytime or nighttime. But, when they are illuminated by Mother Moon, they are especially pretty to me! The following photo was taken in my back yard earlier tonight. The Moon is swaddled in a blanket of clouds while Jupiter and Saturn are both visible to the left. Be sure to click on the photo and zoom-in so you can see it better!

There are so many pretty things that can be seen in the night sky — the clouds, the stars, the constellations, the planets, and in dark locations the Milky Way is visible, too. With a pair of binoculars or a telescope, even more things will become visible.

On the night of July 5th as the calendar slips over to July 6th, the Moon will make another pretty trio with Saturn and Jupiter as happened last month. So if you missed the view in June, you have another chance to catch it this month! The following screenshot is from the STELLARIUM planetarium software on my computer (more information on that, below).

STELLARIUM is a free, open-source, planetarium software that runs on a computer. It is available for Linux, Mac OS-X 10.12+/64-bit, Windows/32-bit, and Windows/64-bit. I have had it on my computers for the past ten years or so, although the original project dates back to 2006. I highly recommend it for anyone who enjoys looking at the night sky! It even comes with a 'Night Vision' mode that will dim the screen so you can take your laptop outdoors without destroying the natural 'Night Vision' that humans gain by being outdoors for a while. There are many settings and modes for various things, so just play with them and see what they do, or press the <F1> key for HELP at any time!