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Tonight In The Sky July 2009


  In the Sky This Month Late Evening Mid Night Early Morning Lunar Solar Calendar
    Printable Version  

Stars In the Sky 07/2009

With the exception of Saturn, the other planets will not be visible until later in the night and early morning.

Jupiter will be close to its biggest and brightest this month.

Venus will be extremely bright in the eastern sky before sunrise all month. The much dimmer and smaller Mars will be higher in the sky all month.

Saturn will sit in the southwest sky when it gets dark. It will be a fair target in July. Observe it this month as it will fading into the twilight next month.

Dim Neptune will be very close to the very much brighter Jupiter in the morning sky all month.

On July 22 the longest Total Solar Eclipse of the century will take place across India and China but mostly out over the Pacific Ocean. None of it will be visible from the U.S.

Mercury in the sky tonightMercury will be nearly impossible to see this month. For the first few days of the month it might be able to be seen very low on the eastern horizon before dawn. The rest of the month it will be invisible because it will be too close to the sun. On the 13th it will go behind the Sun.

 
Venus in the sky tonightVenus will be stunningly bright in the eastern sky before sunrise. Venus will be shinning at magnitude -4.1 which is dimmer than last month but still the brightest "star" in the sky. Only the Sun and the Moon appear brighter. The bright white Venus will be close to the much dimmer red Mars all month. On the 1st they will be around 4º apart. This month, through a telescope, Venus will shrink in size but grow in phase (percentage lit up).
 
Mars in the sky tonightMars will be in the eastern predawn this month. It will shine at Magnitude 1.1 but its small size will make it a marginal telescope target this month. It will be easy to spot though because the much brighter Venus is nearby all month. On the 1st Mars will be around 4º higher.
Mars shines red orange in color.
 

Jupiter in the sky tonightJupiter will rise in the southeast as it gets dark so around midnight it will high in the southern sky around midnight. This will be the best time to observe it. It will be shinning brilliant white at magnitude -2.8 which easily makes it the brightest object in this area of the sky. Jupiter is in the constellation Capricornus. With its belts on the surface and four orbiting moons Jupiter is a good target even through a small telescope especially this month and in August.

The much dimmer Neptune will be less than 2º from Jupiter all month. On the 1st Jupiter will be 0.7º southeast of Neptune. On the 13th Jupiter will be 0.6º to the south. They both could be visible through a telescope with a low power eyepiece.

 

Saturn in the sky tonightSaturn will be in the southwest at dusk. Aside from the Moon it will be the only planet out before around midnight. It will be around Magnitude 1.1 this month. Through a telescope it will be seen that its beautiful ring system appears very close to edge on. This makes Saturn's other features more noticeable. This will be a good month to observe Saturn. It is well positioned in the sky as it gets dark.

It is starting to fade into the west. It will be setting earlier every day so target it before it gets any lower. Go out in July to observe it. Next month the ring system gets even more edge on and the planet drops down into the sunset glare. Saturn appears yellow-orange in color.

A side effect of Saturn's rings being close to edge on to the sun is that Saturn's moons can cast shadows on Saturn's surface. Under good conditions, through a telescope, we can see a moon's shadow travel across the surface. Saturn's largest moon Titan cast the largest shadow. Saturn's other moons are smaller and thus the shadows are much tougher to spot. There will be a good chance to see two this month. On the 1st around 7:49PM PST Titan's shadow will start across Saturn's face. On the 17th around 7:00PM PST Titan's shadow will start across Saturn's face. Shadow transits on Saturn are somewhat rare because they only happen when the rings are near edge on to the Sun.

 
Uranus in the sky tonightUranus should be easy to spot this month. It will rise about an hour after Jupiter does. It will be shining at Magnitude 5.8 in Pisces. This puts it below Jupiter and Neptune but above Venus and Mars. It should be high enough above the horizon to look for it through a telescope just after midnight. Uranus shines with a pale aquamarine color. Under ideal conditions it is bright enough to be a marginal naked eye target and an easy binocular target.
 
Neptune in the sky tonightNeptune will be at Magnitude 7.8 this month. This makes it an easy binocular target from dark skies. The much brighter Jupiter will be less than 2º from Neptune all month. On the 1st Neptune will be 0.7º northwest of Jupiter. On the 13th Neptune will be 0.6º to the north. They both could be visible through a telescope with a low power eyepiece. Neptune shines a pale blue in color.
 

Pluto in the sky tonightPluto reached opposition last month. This is the best time this year to try to find it. It will be close its brightest for the year and sit at its highest in the sky straight to the south at midnight. Pluto will still be a very tough target. It shines at only Magnitude 13.9. It sits in northern Sagittarius. You will need a good finder chart, lots of patience and about a 10" telescope to find it. Even if you are looking at it would be tough to be sure. Taking two CCD images one day apart may show one "star" moving slightly against the background stars. The moving "star" should be Pluto.

This may be a god time to try to see Pluto if you have not before. It is moving away from earth so it will be getting even smaller and dimmer. Also it is heading toward a denser part of the Milky Way where it will be even harder to pick out from the background stars.



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