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Night_Skies_Amazing_Mars

Feature Article July 10

Feature Article July 10, 2003

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Night Skies of July Amazing Performance by Mars In July, many sky watchers begin their observing before twilight ends in order to watch as thousands of stars pop into view, one by one.

This month is the ideal time to study the constellation Sagittarius low in the southern sky. Its star pattern reminds the modern observer, not of a warrior carrying a sheaf of arrows, but of a simple teapot. With its distinct handle to the left and its spout pointing westward or to the right, this large Teapot of Sagittarius seems to pour out its contents as it tips and moves forward over the course of the night. The centre of our Milky Way Galaxy is located to the right of the spout, about 40,000 light-years away. As your eyes follow the sweep of the Milky Way, remember that that river of starlight is coming from many millions out of the 200,000,000,000 stars that make up our galaxy, and that our sun is just one of those countless millions and billions of stars.

The bright planet Jupiter can be seen low in the western sky within an hour or so after sunset, except during the last few days of the month. Mercury makes an evening appearance during the last two weeks of the month and night by night climbs up to join Jupiter, until on July 25 the two are separated by only 1/3 the width of a fingernail held at arms length. Be sure to look for them very low in the sky only 40 minutes after sunset.

Brilliant Venus and Saturn rise in the east a short time before sunrise during the early part of the month. These two planets appear very close during the second week of July, but in the latter part of the month Venus becomes difficult to follow because it rises closer to the time of sunrise, whereas Saturn is easier to spot since it rises earlier each morning.

The main planetary attraction this month is reddish Mars which rises in the east about midnight in early July and by 10 p.m., or before, in late July. Mars dominates the south-eastern sky, and by months end it will reach a brightness not seen in the past 15 years. Often I invite readers to take note of the increasing brightness of an object, and sometimes it may be subtle, but this months change in the brightness of Mars will NOT be subtle. In July, Mars will more than double its brightness!! The orbits of both Earth and Mars are bringing them closer and closer each day, until by August 28 they will be closer than they have been in over 70,000 years!! Each time Earth, on its inner-orbital path, passes by the red planet on its outer-orbital path Mars appears temporarily to stop and move backwards in the sky (just as a jockey on a racehorse on the tracks inside lane, glancing across the track to the horse in the outside lane, as the two horses make the turn, sees that outside horse appear temporarily to move backwards as viewed against the crowd of spectators outside the track, even though that outside horse is going just as fast as his horse). This two-month period of apparent backward motion of Mars will start on July 30, and will require careful observation to detect. Take note of Mars place among all the nearby stars, and make a sketch of Mars among the dozen stars nearest to it. You will notice Mars moving to the left or eastward before July 30, slowing down and slowly going backward (to the right or westward) for about two months.

A sight not to be missed is the close conjunction of a waning gibbous moon and very bright Mars during the night of July 16 and into the morning hours of July 17. In fact, as seen by the people of southern Florida, the moon will appear to move in front of Mars and completely hide it for some time. Such an occultation event will not be seen from Canada, but still, the apparent closeness of the two objects will be remarkable. The moon and Saturn will also form a beautiful pairing low in the eastern sky on the morning of July 27. Following the next New Moon, the waxing lunar crescent on the evening of July 30 will be part of a spectacular grouping involving the planets Jupiter and Mercury and the star Regulus, but visible only to those with a good view of the western horizon about 30 minutes after sunset.

Besides the planets, many bright meteors are often seen in July. The annual shower called the Delta Aquarids reaches its peak on July 28, and is active for several days with numbers of 10 to 20 meteors per hour often seen before morning twilight. There are other, less famous meteor showers also observable during July. Skywatchers should be aware that the aurora may become active at any time, even when totally unexpected.

Simple, easy-to-use star maps and more information about observing the summer sky are in The Beginners Observing Guide, available at Sharbot Lake Pharmacy.

With the participation of the Government of Canada