psychohistorian.org
Tagged as:
Astronomy, Southern Sky News.
Published:
2009 June 23
Southern Sky News for 2009 July
The Moon starts and ends the month of July near the beautiful Scorpion constellation. On Friday evening, July 3, the waxing gibbous Moon is caught in the pincers of Scorpius. The next evening it lies near Antares, the Scorpion's Heart.
On Saturday the 4th, the Earth is at aphelion, that point in its orbit that takes it furtherst away from the Sun. Because it is further away, the Sun will appear slightly smaller (but only by 1.7%). Global solar heating will also be less (but only 3.5% below the annual average).
It may be tempting to think that this is why we have winter at the moment - but remember, it is summer in the northern hemisphere! The seasons are caused by the tilt of the Earth's axis, not by its position in its orbit around the Sun.
On Monday and Tuesday evening, July 6 and 7, look out for the big bright Moon on the east-southeastern horizon rising around the time of sunset.
The Moon is Full on the 7th, and coincidentally it will also be at its furtherst point from us, so this will be the smallest Full Moon in 2009. (For Moon photography tips, browse this tutorial.)
On this date, the Moon will be 401,862 km away from us. If it was possible to drive to the Moon in a racing car, say at 250 km/h, it would take over nine weeks of non-stop driving to get there.
In the predawn sky this July Venus is the brilliant Morning Star, and spends the month near the Seven Sisters (Pleiades) and Hyades star clusters, accompanied by Mars. Each day, the distance between the two planets increases as both head towards the Sun.
High overhead in the morning sky this month lies the bright planet Jupiter. On Friday July 10 the Moon can be seen near Jupiter.
On Sunday morning, July 12, Venus lies at the tip of the V-shaped Hyades star cluster, visible in the east before daybreak. The Pleiades lies to their left
Mars lies between the Pleiades and Hyades from around the 15th.
From the 17th to the 20th, watch in the morning sky as the crescent Moon joins Venus and Mars arranged amongst the stars of the Pleiades and Hyades.
The total solar eclipse on Wednesday July 22 will not be visible from southern Africa.
From July 23 onward, look for the crescent Moon returning to the evening sky shortly after sunset, joining Saturn in the dusk sky.
On Friday July 24, the two day old Moon lies above Regulus (in Leo) and below-left of Saturn at sunset. The next evening the Moon has moved upwards to stand to the upper-left of Saturn. On both July 24 and July 25, a group of us will join Jurg Wagener in Sutherland for a "Stars to Midnight" evening for brilliant views of the Moon and planets.
Saturn spends July in the northwest visible after sunset, setting a bit earlier each evening. By end-July, it sets about three hours after the Sun.
On the last day of July, the Moon is again near Antares in the east. With some luck, look in the west-northwest, shortly after sunset, for little Mercury, a short distance below Regulus in Leo.
Happy star gazing!
/ph
Reader's comments
Posted by Anne-Marie Döhne on Monday, 2009 July 13 @21:36.
The easiest star gazing site to read for novices, thank you very much. I have been looking at Orion for about 20yrs and called it the crown but wondering what that cluster was really called and now for the first time 'revelation' it's Orion, thank you for setting it out so clearly. Now I also know what the spotlight (Venus) in the morning star is and what happened to Pleiades, I thought Pleiades disappeared completely from the sky as I used to see it at night in the north.
Reply from Auke Slotegraaf on Monday, 2009 July 13 @21:54.
Thanks for the nice comment.
"The Crown" – cool, I will remember that!
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