July is peak stargazing season in New York City.

With warm summer nights and plenty of free public telescope viewing events across the five boroughs, it’s prime time for looking up and pondering the heavens in the Big Apple.

July has it all: planets, shooting stars, the Milky Way and the spectacular urban sunsets of Manhattanhenge.

“July is an exciting mix of very prominent naked eye planet alignments, deep sky hunting and good targets for telescope users,” said Bart Fried, member of the American Astronomical Society.

The show in the sky

New Yorkers waiting for the fireworks on July 4 can get a pre-show treat: spotting Venus and Jupiter. The solar system's hottest planet is the brightest celestial body in the night sky, visible just above the western horizon after sunset.

“You can’t miss it,” Fried said. “Venus is the brightest object in the sky after the moon.”

Using the second planet from the sun as a guide, Jupiter is easy to locate. On the western horizon, the largest planet will be lower than Venus and to its right. Now is the time to see the gas giant, because by mid-month, the fifth planet from the sun will set around the same time as the sun, so it will not be visible in the evening.

There are other sights to behold while waiting for the Independence Day festivities. Right overhead is a very bright red giant star, Arcturus, which is nearly 40 lightyears away. In the eastern sky is the Summer Triangle.

The triad of three bright stars is the most prominent star pattern in New York City during this time of year. The Summer Triangle makes it easy to find nearby constellations because each star is from a different celestial picture. Vega is in Lyra, Deneb in Cygnus and Altair in Aquila.

”On the Fourth of July, we're out, it's dark, we're waiting for the fireworks, take a moment to look at what's up in the sky,” said Ruth Angus, astrophysicist at the American Museum of Natural History. “But once the fireworks have gone off, the sky might be obscured by smoke.”

The river of clouds

The Milky Way is the dazzling silvery tapestry of summer skies. While astronomers say, "get out of town" to darker skies to see our galactic center, Gothamist has recent reports that the luminous river of clouds across the sky is visible in the city. According to Fried, stargazers can see the cloudy ribbon from the southern end of Floyd Bennett Field.

Looking in the opposite direction from Manhattan, in the southern direction over the ocean and beyond the Rockaways, Fried was able to locate the hazy lanes of the Milky Way. One of his guides was Deneb, a star from the Summer Triangle, which intersects the Milky Way. A good time for viewing is around July 14, the new moon, when skies are darkest.

“At a good dark site, you see the core and arc of the Milky Way and you see the dust lanes instantly,” Fried said.

Last chance to see Manhattanhenge this year

Manhattanhenge returns on July 11, when the full disc of the sun will be framed by the city's street grid as it sets at 8:20 p.m. The best views are ground level from crosstown streets with a clear view to the Hudson River, such as 14th and 42nd streets. Some popular viewing spots include Tudor City and Hunter’s Point South Park in Long Island City.

On July 11, the American Museum of Natural History will host its annual block party with a salsa band. The museum is blocking off part of West 79th Street for unobstructed views of the sun sinking into the horizon. The next day, around the same time, the sun's midpoint will line up with city streets, which means half the sunset will be framed by high-rises.

Meteors versus the moon

Towards the end of the month, three meteor showers will overlap. The Alpha Capricornids and Southern Delta Aquariids both peak at the end of the month.

Unfortunately, the showers coincide with the full moon on July 29, meaning the moon’s brightness is going to make it harder to see shooting stars. A week before the peak, during the third week of the month, is a better time to catch a glimpse.

The Perseids, widely considered by astronomers as one of the best annual meteor showers, will begin around that time as well, but won’t peak until August.

”If you're looking to get out and do some great shooting star gazing, then it’s probably better to wait for mid-August and then you get the Perseids and the new moon at the same time,” Angus said.

For an up-close view of the universe, there are free telescope viewing events across the city almost every night of the week in July. On July 5, the Urban Park Rangers are hosting a midday solar sungazing event at Silver Lake Park on Staten Island. Participants can learn the basics of safe solar astronomy and make cyanotypes, photographic prints made with sunlight rather than a camera. On July 7, the Amateur Astronomers Association is hosting an event with NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope team on the High Line.