Tour of the Sky: July 2007

2 Jul 2007, 14:33 UTC

Download this month's sky map!
Kym Thalassoudis does a wonderful job creating accurate and easy to use star
maps every month! Visit his site at www.skymaps.com for skymaps and links to
other useful astronomical sites. Also a great portal for astronomical gifts!

Northern hemisphere sky
mapSouthern hemisphere sky
map

Those in the Southern Hemisphere should also visit
James Barclay's site for a great tour of the Southern Hemisphere July sky.

Another great site for Southern Hemisphere viewers is the Royal Astronomical
Society of New Zealand's Southern Hemisphere Calendar can be found at the RASNZ siteIan
Musgrave has a very handy Southern Hemisphere site called Southern Sky Watch.

Download "What's up
2007: 365 days of Skywatching" by Tammy Plotner, published by Universe Today
(Faser Cain) it is a fantastic and it is free!

Planets for July 2007
Mercury- Moves into the morning sky for the later half of the month.
It reaches greatest elongation west on July 20th and brightens throughout the
month. Should be visible with the unaided eye at latitude 30deg S by the 15th
and on the 19th for 30 deg N. Observers in higher latitudes might need
binoculars to fish Mercury out of the morning twilight but this will still be
the best morning apparition for the north for the year. 5.2mag (1st) to 0.2 mag
(21st)
Venus- Still brilliant, still glorious in the western sky at sunset.
Starts off the month nicely paired with Saturn but by the 16th look for a very
nice grouping of a young crescent Moon, Venus, Saturn and Regulus. After
mid-month she begins her descent back towards the sun and her inferior
conjunction on the 18th of Aug. Venus reaches her peak magnitude at -4.5 on the
12th of July. -4.3 mag (1st) to - 4.3 mag (21st)
Mars- Moves from Aries into Taurus on July 27th. Easier to see this
month in the early morning twilight for both hemispheres. If you need help
finding Mars, look for the Moon on the 9th and find Mars just 6 degrees South.
0.7 mag (1st) to 0.6 mag (21st)
Jupiter- Not far from Antares in Scorpio Jupiter blazes opposite
Venus. Jupiter transits early in the evening making it a nice 'family' object
the kids can see before going off to bed. Filters will help fish it out of the
twilight. -2.5 mag (1st) to -2.4 mag (21st)
Saturn- Out shone by both Venus and Jupiter, Saturn joins the show
again at the beginning of the month paired with Venus then again on the 15-17th
as he lines up with Regulus, Venus and the Moon. If you can tear yourself away
make sure you get a good look at Saturn and his rings before we loose him to the
glare of the sun. 0.6 mag (1st) to 0.6 mag (21st)
Uranus-In Aquarius 5.8 mag (1st) to 5.8 mag (21st)
Neptune-Will camp out in Capricorn all year long 7.9 mag (1st) to 7.8
mag (21st)
4
Vesta -Categorized as a minor planet (Vesta family Main Belt) not far
from Jupiter this month and at a magnitude of 5.4 - 6.0 will be a good naked eye
object for July. Vesta is the second most massive object in the asteroid belt
with a mean diameter of 540 km and was named after the Roman goddess of home and
hearth.
On the 4th of July she spends Independence day just north of the double star
Beta Scorpius.

Key Dates for July 2007
Days and Times in UT (help with
time)Observations are for 8pm for the mid-southern latitudes and for
10pm for the mid-northern latitudes.

Great site for sunrise and sunset
times and a downloadable toolbar application by Steve Edwards

Occultation information can be found at the IOTA website!
Astronomical Highlights

 July 

- This is a good month for hunting down Noctilucent clouds! (Read more about
them....)

2
- Venus .5 deg from Saturn in the evening sky

3
- Neptune 1.3 deg N of Moon in the morning sky. Possible occultation check
the IOTA
website for data for your area.

4
- Mars solstice! Winter for the N hemisphere and summer for the S
hemisphere.

- Have a safe 4th of July

6
- Venus in descending node

7
- Earth at aphelion (furthest point from the sun) 0h UT

- Last Quarter Moon 16:54 UT

9
- Moon near Mars in the morning sky

- Moon at perigee (closest to Earth)

10
- Moon near the Pleiades in the morning sky

- Mercury stationary

12
- Mercury at greatest heliocentric latitude S.

13
- Venus 1.7 degs from Regulus in the evening sky

14
- Venus at its brightest at 17 UT Mag -4.5

- Vesta stationary

- New Moon 12:04 UT

16
- Moon near Saturn in the evening sky. Possible occultation check the IOTA website for
data for your area.

17
- Moon near Regulus(another possible occultation) and Venus.

20
- Mercury at greatest elongation 20 degs West from the Sun in the morning
sky

22
- First Quarter Moon 6:29 UT

- Moon at apogee at 9h UT

28
- Delta Aquarid
meteors peak

30
- Full Moon 0:48 UT

31
- Mercury at ascending node

- Neptune 1.3 degs N of Moon. Possible occultation check the IOTA website for
data for your area.

Monthly Messier*

This will be a light month as we wait for the Milky Way to rise into better
view later this NH-summer/SH-winter. Our list consist of six globular clusters
and one very bright galaxy. All of these objects are possible with binoculars,
most are down right easy even with small binoculars.

M3 - This globular
cluster in Canes Venatici is one of the brightest objects in the sky. In
binoculars this object is definitely not star like, but more of a bright, small
snowball easy to see. Small telescopes will begin to resolve M3 into individual
stars. The hardest part of this object is locating it in a portion of sky that
contains few bright landmarks.

M53 - Another globular
cluster in Canes Venatici. While not quite as big or bright as M3 it is still an
obvious binocular object. Resolvable in small telescopes, it as easy object to
find sharing the same low power telescope field as fifth magnitude Alpha Coma
Berenices.

M5 - A big, bright
globular cluster located in Serpens Caput. M5 is as nice as M3 but lies near a
fifth magnitude naked eye star (5 Serpentis) making it an easy object to find.

M68 - An eighth
magnitude globular cluster in Hydra, M68 is a difficult binocular object for
Northern observers. It appears as a faint fuzz spot in binoculars, you may need
to use averted vision or large binoculars to find this one. Appearing as a round
fuzzy patch in a 8" telescope, you will need a much larger aperature to really
resolve it.

M83 - A face on spiral
in Hydra. M83 is fairly easy in binoculars as a faint, fuzzy patch of light. In
a telescope look for a large patch of light with a bright center.

M4 - A big bright
globular in Scorpius, easily located near Antares. This is an easy binocular
object appearing as a round snowball. Partially resolvable in a telescope, the
trade mark of this globular is a line of bright stars crossing the center.

M80 - This is the
smallest and faintest globular cluster this month. Located in Scopius, M80 is a
very tough binocular object appearing as a faint star with slight fuzziness
around the edges. This is confirmed with a telescope, M80 has a bright central
condensation in the middle of faint fuzz. It is one of the Messier objects that
even through a medium telescope still looks like a comet.

*Monthly Messier information gleaned from the Royal Astronomical Society of
Canada, Moncton Centre Quebec and from the Astronomy Connection website.

Astronomical Highlights for 2007
Earth's major motions for 2007

Perihelion

Jan 3 20h(UT)

First Cross Quarter Day

Feb 2-6

Equinox

Mar 21 00:07(UT)

Second Cross Quarter Day

May 4-7

Solstice

June 21 18:06(UT)

Aphelion

July 4 00h (UT)

Third Cross Quarter Day

Aug 5-8

Equinox

Sept 23 19:51(UT)

Fourth Cross Quarter Day

Nov 5-8

Solstice

Dec 22 06:08(UT)

Planet Positions for 2007

Jan
Feb
Mar
Apr
May
Jun
Jul
Aug
Sep
Oct
Nov
Dec

Venus
Sgr
Aqr
Psc
Ari
Tau
Gem
Leo
Sex
Cnc
Leo
Leo
Vir

Mars
Oph
Sgr
Cap
Cap
Aqr
Psc
Ari
Tau
Tau
Gem
Gem
Gem

Jupiter
Oph
Oph
Oph
Oph
Oph
Oph
Oph
Oph
Oph
Oph
Oph
Oph

Saturn
Leo
Leo
Leo
Leo
Leo
Leo
Leo
Leo
Leo
Leo
Leo
Leo

Uranus
Aqu
Aqu
Aqu
Aqu
Aqu
Aqu
Aqu
Aqu
Aqu
Aqu
Aqu
Aqu

Neptune
Cap
Cap
Cap
Cap
Cap
Cap
Cap
Cap
Cap
Cap
Cap
Cap

Eclipses for 2007

March 19 - partial solar eclipse (see map, times, and
animation!): The first
solar eclipse of 2007 occurs at the Moon's ascending node in Pisces and is
visible from eastern Asia and parts of northern Alaska

September 11 - partial solar eclipse (see map, times, and
animation): The last
eclipse of 2007 is a partial solar eclipse at the Moon's descending node in
southern Leo. Its visibility is confined to parts of South America, Antarctica
and the South Atlantic

March 3-4 - total lunar eclipse (see
map): The beginning of the umbral phase visible in the Arctic region,
Africa, Europe, Asia except for extreme eastern region, most of Indonesia,
western Australia, Queen Maud Land of Antarctica, extreme eastern South America,
Greenland, the Indian Ocean, the South Atlantic Ocean, and the eastern North
Atlantic Ocean; the end visible in Africa, Europe, western Asia, Queen Maud Land
of Antarctica and Antarctic Peninsula, South America, eastern North America,
Greenland, the Arctic region, the Atlantic Ocean, the western Indian Ocean, and
the extreme eastern South Pacific Ocean.

August 28 - total lunar eclipse (see
map): The beginning of the umbral phase visible in North America, South
America except extreme east, Antarctica except for Enderby Land, New Zealand,
eastern Australia, extreme northeastern Asia, the Pacific Ocean, and the western
Atlantic Ocean; the end visible in New Zealand, Australia, most of Antarctica
except Queen Maud Land, Indonesia, eastern Asia, western North America, the
Pacific Ocean, and the southeastern Indian Ocean.
Eclipse information from:
NASA Eclipse
Homepage, Eclipses Online (HM
Nautical Almanac Office, UK in coordination with the U.S. Naval
Observatory)
Meteor Showers
for 2007

As luck would have it, all the major meteor showers reach their peaks
in 2007 with the Moon out of the sky. Any of these showers can produce dozens of
shooting stars each dark hour leading up to dawn.
Mark your calendar to look
for...
Lyrids on April 23rd
Perseids on August 13th
Orionids on October 21st
Leonids on November 18th
Geminids on the night of December 13-14 (Meteor enthusiasts are keenly
awaiting the Geminids in 2007 because their progenitor, the defunct comet
Phaethon, precedes them in a flyby of Earth on December 10th.)

Historical and Current Events...Did you know?
Culled from Wikipedia and others, by Mark Tillotson (Thank you
Mark!)

The approximate date of Earth's aphelion. Astronomically speaking, the sun begins in
the constellation of Gemini and ends in the constellation of Cancer.
The historical and current events
ended up being too long for the poor libsyn blog pages!!! (Imagine)Please go
to this
file for this wonderful list of historical events!
Comets for July
Gary Kronk's comet and
meteor pagesSkyhound
Comet pages
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Moss - "Leis a lurrighan"Dust
Rhinos - "Wild Mountain Thyme"