July Evening Sky 2024  – Astronotes

Stargazing will likely be a late night time exercise for July for the reason that days will likely be brighter and longer in the course of the summer time. It’s an awesome exercise for many who love tenting and get a transparent night time for it. The celebs will likely be extra seen round midnight, so we must always begin to see the constellations round then. Gentle air pollution could be a little bit of an issue for anybody who lives in greater cities or cities, so being within the countryside could make an enormous enchancment. It is usually helpful to maintain telephones away in order that your eyes can modify to the darkish, your cellphone can undo the adjustment to the darkish. 

Constellations 

Ophiuchus and Scorpio. Picture Credit score: Stellarium.

The thirteenth zodiac constellation, forgotten or ignored, is Ophiuchus. It sits beside the constellation of Scorpius, and the Solar takes longer to undergo Ophiuchus than Scorpius. Whereas there are twelve higher recognized Zodiac constellations, they have been recorded hundreds of years in the past. A lot has moved since then; Earth, The Solar and all the opposite stars are usually not nonetheless, all the pieces is in movement. So now, we have now a thirteenth constellation for the Zodiac. Ophiuchus is often known as the Serpent Bearer, which represents a doctor who blended a potion for immortality in historical Greek mythology. The brightest star on this constellation is Rasalhague or Alpha Ophiuchus. It’s the star that’s highest within the sky from our perspective right here in Armagh. This is without doubt one of the stars that have been named in Arabic, and our fashionable names vaguely replicate the previous names. This explicit ‘star’ can be a binary star system with one star orbiting the opposite.

Scorpius, or Scorpio, is partially seen

Scorpio. Picture Credit score: Stellarium.

on the horizon by means of July, so getting someplace darkish with clear fields of view to the South is finest. Being on hills, or usually elevated, can be useful as effectively. The constellation will likely be beneath the horizon by the tip of the month and by no means rises very excessive from our perspective right here in Armagh. The brightest star in Scorpius is Antares. This title comes from the Greek, roughly which means “opposing Ares” as a result of it’s a purple star and one other purple object within the sky is Mars, named for the Roman equal of Ares, the god of Struggle. 

Planets 

From the third of month, we are going to see Jupiter rising within the East with the Moon and Mars, early within the morning round 3am to 4am. I do know it’s very early, or late for those who keep up, however presently of the yr we have now fewer midnights within the sky.  

Saturn will likely be seen from in additional southern areas of the sky and significantly larger than Jupiter and Mars. Evening by night time they are going to all appear to shift throughout the celebs behind them from east to west. 

With the appropriate telescope it’s doable to see the rings of Saturn or as much as 4 of the moons of Jupiter generally known as the Galilean moons. The rings of Saturn are nice to see, particularly as they are going to be much less seen subsequent yr when the orbit of Earth strains up “edge on” to the rings that are about 1 kilometre thick in some components, and thinner in others. 

The planets will seem fairly vibrant on clear nights, significantly Jupiter and Saturn. Mars will likely be notably purple, therefore the title “The Purple Planet”, nevertheless there are extra shades of orange and brown on its floor. In case you are monitoring the planets, or moon, with a telescope it is very important have the right setup since they transfer at totally different speeds to the celebs behind them. 

The Planets within the Evening Sky. Picture Credit score: Stellarium.

Deep Sky Objects 

The Sagittarius Star Cloud. Picture Credit score: Stellarium.

That is the half the place it will be helpful to have binoculars or a telescope, having a digicam setup may also help seize some further element that our personal eyes have hassle seeing. Deep Sky Objects contains a wide range of forms of objects from nebulae to clusters of stars. There are a selection of lists and catalogues that they’ll belong to. Two which are generally used are the Messier (M) record and the New Basic Catalogue of Nebulae and Clusters of Stars (which is a mouthful so we are going to use “NGC”). Every record numbers their objects like ‘M123’ or ‘NGC123’, and whereas they’re every a listing in their very own proper, they typically share objects in widespread. 

The Sagittarius Star Cloud (M24) is faint and a bit greater than 10,000 lightyears away, and so is extra seen with binoculars. These clusters are like crowds of stars within the sky, some are extra seen at totally different components of the yr. Sagittarius doesn’t rise very excessive within the Armagh sky, so having a transparent view to the south with no gentle air pollution will make this cluster extra simple to search out within the southern sky. Behind this cluster is a spiral arm of the milky approach, however that is extremely faint from our perspective. As we glance nearer at Sagittarius, we’re wanting in direction of the centre of our galaxy as effectively. 

The Whirlpool Galaxy. Picture Credit score: Stellarium.

We will flip to a different a part of the sky for the subsequent object. If you will discover The Plough, a well known asterism within the constellation of Ursa Main, you may discover the Whirlpool Galaxy (M51, NGC5194). This galaxy is seen with the appropriate telescope, or possibly even a digicam, and it’s a circumpolar object that by no means really units beneath the horizon.

The Moon 

The total moon this month happens on the 21st of July. This one is called the Buck Moon, a nod to these deer who begin rising their antlers presently of the yr. Names like this may change relying on the place you’re on this planet, and are sometimes linked to what we see on this planet round us. 

This full moon is auspicious, because it happens on the day after the anniversary of Armstrong and Aldrin strolling on the Moon, 55 years in the past. Artemis 1, the primary of a brand new set of moon missions, launched in 2022 (near the fiftieth anniversary of Apollo 17). This was an uncrewed launch to check the programs earlier than the Artemis 2 launch which has been pushed again till 2025. Artemis 2 can have a crew (already chosen), orbit the Moon and return to Earth, with out touchdown on this event.