Events, Moon, Planets in July

Events Moon Planets Minor Planets, NEOs	Shooting Stars Occultations Sun

--- Occuring Now, Wednesday July 23rd, 2008 GMT (Moon is waning gibbous) ... Wwd Pairing Mars-Saturn in Twilight! ... Wwd Jupiter at its Best ... Wwd The Perseids now Active and The Southern Delta Aquarids to Peak Next Jul. 27! ... And More! ... check more! Last Sun is here --- Northern Hemisphere Summer Edition! Like every year, we're providing a summer edition. This one is for the northerners for their holidays. The whole of July and August at hand! check more --- to the Cursor to the Monthly Quick Overview --- color codes: Wwd worldwide, UsA USA-Americas, EuA Europe-Africa, AsP Asia-Pacific, Chk Check for Your Zone. check the site's concept and the instructions of use

Instructions of Use: how to use this page -and the site, generally? just check the site's concept and the instructions of use!
Wwd worldwide, UsA USA-Americas, EuA Europe-Africa, AsP Asia-Pacific Chk Check for Your Zone

back Home Page Cursor What's Up in July? - Wwd it's Jupiter's best! The gas giant reaching opposition this month, on July 9! - Wwd a fine pairing of Mars and Saturn like evening stars in twilight a good part of this month! Fine! - Wwd Earth at the aphelion on July 4! - Wwd Afficionados to note that Neptune headed to the opposition next August 15 - occultations observers are advised to check in 'Events', and to turn to the I.O.T.A. check below at Occultations all these, and more, on this page! . color codes: Wwd worldwide, UsA USA-Americas, EuA Europe-Africa, AsP Asia-Pacific Chk Check for Your Zone illustration through Celestia

Monthly Sky . Northern Hemisphere: the Summer Triangle, the center of our Milky Way Galaxy, scorpius, the Scorpion. Ophiuchus. Cepheus, Cepheus . Equator: the typically southern, Milky Way-embedded constellations, South and southwest. The center of our Milky Way Galaxy. Arcturus. Typical southern constellations southeast. The northern skies Summer Triangle . Southern Hemisphere: a part of the Milky Way-embedded, typically southern constellations southwest and West. The Pointers and Crux. scorpius, the Scorpion. M13 in Hercules. A flurry of typicall southern constellations seen southeast. Capricornus, the Goat. The northern skies Summer Triangle check more at Monthly Sky

Events

Wwd 1 (1): during a good part of this month, Mars and Saturn, like evening stars, are pairing in twilight (at all latitudes). Regulus is part of a show for some part of the period. A fine show!

Wwd 1 (2): Moon is at its perigee at 21:00 UT (223,439 mi; 359,513 km)

Wwd 4: like every year about that period, Earth is at aphelion, at its farthest Sun on its orbit, that is. That's paradoxically at that moment that it's summer in the northern hemisphere. The event occurs today at 05:00 UT. see more about the seasons

one of the view available Jul. 6 when Moon reaches to the pairing of Mars and Saturn! picture (augmented) with Stellarium

Wwd 6: at all latitudes worldwide, with the show beginning in twilight, and variously heading into the night, first quarter Moon tonight is adding in twilight to the pairing Mars-Saturn which is occurring a good part of this month. The show is more distended for the North of the USA-Americas area (see more about the pairing)

EuA AsP 10: first quarter Moon tonight is close to Spica at all latitudes. The show is beginning in twilight and variously heading into the night

Wwd 12: the Southern Delta Aquarids usually begin to be active today as they are until next Aug. 19. They usually are peaking on Jul. 27-28. more at the date of the peak

Wwd 14 (1): Moon is at its apogee at 04:00 UT (251,990 mi; 405,452 km)

AsP 14 (2): there is an occultation tonight of Antares by waxing gibbous Moon, at 12:00 UT, as it's observable from southern Australia and New Zealand. check more at "The International Occultation Timing Association" (I.O.T.A.)

UsA 16: there is an occultation tonight of Nunki, of Sagittarius, by near full Moon, at 05:00 UT, for central and northern South America. check more at "The International Occultation Timing Association" (I.O.T.A.)

the Moon occulting Nunki on Jul. 16, for central and northern South America picture (augmented) with Stellarium

Wwd 17: the Perseids, those famed summer meteors, usually begin to be active today as they are until next Aug. 24. They usually are peaking in August, on Aug. 11-12. more

Cursor July 21st-25th! (no event included for that period) check too the Events summary, Events, Planets and Moon! Moon: waning gibbous
- For convenience for our readers in the northern hemisphere, like each year, we are providing our Summer Edition at disposal. check it
more about the cursor concept
Wwd worldwide, UsA USA-Americas, EuA Europe-Africa, AsP Asia-Pacific, Chk Check for Your Zone. more about the localized color codes

Wwd 27: the Southern Delta Aquarids usually are peaking on Jul. 27-28. more back

Wwd 29: Moon is at its perigee at 23:00 UT (226,157 mi; 363,887 km)

Occultations observers are advised to turn to the I.O.T.A

Moon

new moon on July 3rd, at 02:20 UT
first quarter on July 10th, at 04:33 UT
full moon on July 18th, at 08:00 UT
last quarter on July 25th, at 18:41 UT

(source: NASA Reference Publication 1349, Twelve Year Planetary Ephemeris: 1995 - 2006 by Fred Espenak)

Planets

Mercury is reaching its greatest western elongation, by 21.8°W on Jul. 1 at 18:00 UT, as the swift planet is reaching its superior conjunction on July 29, at 20:00 UT. Mercury is ending a morning apparition at all latitudes

Venus is at its perihelion, its nearest to the Sun on its orbit, on July 11, at 20:00 UT. After its conjunction last June 9, Venus is now barely reappearing West, like an evening star, at all latitudes

Mars is not more considered usefully observable by the afficionados as of a too much small apparent diameter. Mars is providing a fine pairing with Saturn in twilight during a good part of the month

It's Jupiter's best. Jupiter is at its greatest and best observable of this year, as the gas giant is coming to its opposition on July 9, at 09:00 UT. Jupiter however tend to be low in the northern hemisphere. It's high at the tropics and in the southern hemisphere

Saturn is now mostly an evening star at all latitudes. The ringed planet is finely pairing with Mars in twilight during a good part of this month

Uranus is now rising by midnight in the northern hemisphere, and by 10:30 p.m. local time at the tropics, and South. Uranus will reach its opposition next Sep. 13

Neptune is now well observable, as the faraway world is bound to its opposition next Aug. 15. Neptune is rising by 10:30 p.m. local time in the northern hemisphere as it's already well risen, by that time, at the tropics and the southern hemisphere

Pluto keeps being well visible, due South or North, by 22:30 p.m. local time. Pluto is not categorized a planet anymore by the International Astronomical Union (IAU) but a 'dwarf planet' instead, and the prototype of a new category of 'trans-Neptunian', 'Pluto-class' objects

Minor Planets, NEOs

Minor Planets
Nearest NEOs

Minor Planets

see at Minor Planets on the yearly Calendar page

Nearest NEOs

Some small asteroids dubbed Near-Earth Objects (NEOs) are regularly making close approaches at Earth. People interested in such close approaches may obtain recent and upcoming data at NASA site Near-Earth Object Program (their section "Close Approaches"). Date, miss distance in AU or Lunar Distance (LD), estimated diameter, and relative velocity are available. For further observational purposes, check at the Near-Earth Object Program ephemeris Generator. For more about NEOs see tutorial "About NEOs"

Shooting Stars

note: shooting stars afficionados will be aware of checking Moon at the dates of the showers

• Southern Delta Aquarids back are usually active Jul. 12-Aug. 19 with their peak usually on Jul. 27-28. Their radiant is at R.A. 339° and dec. -16°. They have a hourly rate of 20
• Perseids back are usually active Jul. 17-Aug. 24 with their peak usually on Aug. 11-12. Their radiant is at R.A. 046° and dec. +58°. They are one of the most important meteor showers of the year, with a hourly rate of 100-110
• Shooting stars afficionados may turn to IMO, The International Meteor Organization for more about the above and about possible minor showers this month

for more about shooting stars and about the meteor showers of this month, see our tutorial "Shooting Stars"

Occultations

Each month, Moon occults some relatively bright stars, that is the Moon, beginning either with its bright or its dark visible face, is passing in front of a star. This is called an occultation. The Pleiades, on the other hand, due to their position near the eclipic, are often occulted by Moon too. Some planets, at last, along the year, may be occulted by Moon or they themselves, or their satellites, may be seen too occulting a star. The asteroids too may occult stars. Yearly lists of such phenomenons are to be found at Sky & Telescope/SkyTonight.com, either in their newsstand issues or at their site, as a list of occultations of most brilliant stars, the planets and the Pleiades are available at the I.O.T.A site (I.O.T.A. stands for "The International Occultation Timing Association")

check on this site for more about occultations, theoretically

Sun

click to last Sun (the page updated each day at 11h 30 UT, weekends included as the latest data are recapitulated too)