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July 2007
S M T W T F S
     
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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 map
Southern 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 site
Ian 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 pages
Skyhound Comet pages

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Music Scottish Guitar Quartet -"Romance within you"
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Direct download: AAGG_sky_tour_July_07.mp3
Category: Sky Tours -- posted at: 10:33 AM
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