Celestial Fireworks for Fourth of July

Chuck Bueter
Jun 27
2 min read

Updated: Jul 3

For a Fourth of July holiday highlight you can use the moon to prepare for next year's Semiquincentennial party. As fireworks celebrate Independence Day in 2025, the star Spica is just a few degrees away from the moon. In 2026, at 250 light years away the star Spica is America's Semiquincentennial Star. Light that left Spica in 1776 at the founding of the nation, traveling at 186,000 miles per second, will just be reaching our eyes in 2026!

On July 3, 2025, find the star Spica only three degrees away from the moon around 10 PM. Earlier in the day the two objects would have been less than a degree apart, about the width of your thumbnail at arm's length. The next night, July 4, the moon is further east. Spica, which is actually a double star, depicts the ear of wheat held in the hand of Virgo.

On July 3, 2025, Spica is about three degrees from the moon.

Next year, for the 2026 Fourth of July celebration, the moon rises closer to midnight, so the Big Dipper and Arcturus will guide you to Spica. In July, Spica appears in the southern sky. Starting from the curved handle of the Big Dipper, follow the arc to the bright star Arcturu; then drive a spike down to Spica. "Arc to Arcturus and spike down to Spica."

Spica appears low in the southern sky in early July. A couple hours before the Fourth of July 2025, the moon is about three degrees from Spica, the Semiquincentennial Star.

Since you're looking in the direction of Arcturus, take advantage of a clear night sky to anticipate a celestial phenomenon. Get a "before" photo of the constellation Corona Borealis with you cell phone camera. Soon (or kind of soon) a rare visible nova will appear in the sky there--the brightest nova ever seen by anyone now alive.

Catch it before the star blows up, then photograph it again when it's briefly visible after outburst. When it does blow, the nova, about as bright as Polaris, may only be visible to the naked eye for a few days.

To find Corona Borealis, "follow the arc to Arcturus" and then hop to the nearby Northern Crown. The approximate site of the anticipated nova T Coronae Borealis is in yellow circle. Image: 2025 June 27, 10:30 PM.

Added July 3, 2025:

Note that you can get both celestial targets in the same photographic field of view. When watching the fireworks after 10 PM or so, be north of the fireworks and looking south. You could get the trifecta of Coronoa Borealis, fireworks, and Spica in one image!