On Saturday, July 25, 2026, stargazers looking to the eastern sky around 10:30 P.M. local daylight time will find the Great Square of Pegasus rising, marked by four bright stars whose boundaries and stellar history reflect centuries of astronomical charting.
The Four Stars of the Great Square and Their Constellation Boundaries
Rising in the east around 10:30 P.M. local daylight time, the Great Square of Pegasus is made up of four bright stars: Algenib, Markab, Scheat, and Alpheratz. Yet the boundaries of modern constellations mean that only the first three are officially cataloged within the constellation Pegasus as Gamma (γ), Alpha (α), and Beta (β) Pegasi. The fourth star, Alpheratz, is cataloged as Alpha Andromedae within Andromeda the Princess.
Despite its current place on modern charts, the late stellar expert Jim Kaler suggests Alpheratz was once part of Pegasus proper. Its ancient name translates directly to the horse’s shoulder.
Constellations have shifted across millennia, and the sky we map today relies on an established, universally accepted system of 88 constellations created in 1928 by the International Astronomical Union.
Tracking the Waxing Moon, Antares, and the Ursa Major Moving Group
While the Great Square climbs the eastern sky on July 25, other celestial highlights unfold across the evening. Earlier in the weekend, on Friday, July 24, the Moon passed 0.6° south of the bright red star Antares in Scorpius at 6 P.M. EDT. Observers watched the pair arc down toward the west, standing over 20° high in the south around 9:30 P.M. local daylight time as twilight faded.
Meanwhile, in the northern sky, the Big Dipper asterism appears late in the evening with its cup diving toward the horizon and its handle pointing upward. This familiar star pattern and its host constellation, Ursa Major, belong to a family of roughly 60 stars physically moving together through space, known as the Ursa Major moving group. This group includes five of the Big Dipper’s stars: Merak, Phecda, Megrez, Alioth, Mizar, and Alcor, cataloged from Beta to 80 Ursae Majoris.
Astronomers think that while this moving group is not a bound cluster today, it likely once was. Moving groups may represent the intermediate stage when tightly bound open clusters begin to drift apart following their formation.
Lunar Apogee and Weekend Planetary Targets
The Moon reached apogee—its farthest point from Earth in its orbit—at 12:45 P.M. EDT on Saturday, July 25, standing 251,996 miles (405,548 kilometers) away. By evening, the Moon shifted into Ophiuchus, standing highest around 10:30 local daylight time near the spout of the Sagittarius Teapot, though its bright waxing gibbous phase makes surrounding faint stars difficult to spot.
Observers searching for solar system objects can also look toward the asteroid belt. On Sunday, July 26, Asteroid 3 Juno reaches opposition at 1 P.M. EDT, glowing at 9th magnitude in the constellation Aquila the Eagle. Sitting about 11° from the bright star Altair, Juno rests just over 4° south of Theta (θ) Aquilae, passing close to a slightly brighter field star cataloged as HIP 99225 or HD 191147. A telescope will capture the 9th-magnitude world best against the moonlight, with Juno appearing as the northernmost of two similar points in the eyepiece and drifting slowly toward the southwest.
