Stay up to about 11 p.m. this week, and you'll find the Great Square of Pegasus looming up in the east — an early foreshadowing of fall. It's a bit bigger than your fist at arm's length, and it's balancing on one corner.

The modest but long-lasting Delta Aquarid meteor shower is strongest this week. It's best seen from southerly latitudes and before the first light of dawn.

Venus (magnitude –3.9) is still very deep in the glow of sunset. Using binoculars, look for it just above the west-northwest horizon 20 to 40 minutes after sundown. Venus is making its way up very slowly toward a grand "Evening Star" showing in late fall and winter.

Mars and Saturn (magnitudes +1.7 and +0.8) are sinking lower in evening twilight. They're moving apart now; on July 18th they're separated by 4°, but on the 26th by 8°. Twinkly little Regulus (magnitude +1.4) remains 7° to Saturn's lower right. Look early before they all sink too low and set!

Jupiter (magnitude –2.7, in Sagittarius) shines with a steady glare in the southeast at nightfall. It's left of the Sagittarius Teapot and just below the bowl of the smaller, dimmer Teaspoon. Jupiter now gets its highest in the south by midnight daylight saving time. For high-resolution scopes, Jupiter's Great Red Spot and its little red companions have been putting on quite an interesting performance; see press release from the Hubble Space Telescope site.