I was hoping to share some night sky photos in this midmonth post, but unfortunately the sky has been too smoky from wildfires in California, Idaho, Oregon, and Washington. I did make a few attempts but could barely make out Venus through the thick smoke. I suppose the positive side of the smoky skies is that I was able to get a few pictures of the gorgeous sunset which I will share near the end of this post. Hopefully in the near future we will have some smoke and cloud free skies!
Due to the smoky skies, I'm sure most observers in Utah have been unable to view the stars without them being obscured, at least the stars or objects that are 45° or closer to the horizon. This leaves only the objects that are higher in the sky so that the observer is looking through less of the smoke. Consequently, while the smoke persists, we will be unable to clearly view the Beehive Cluster, the Lagoon Nebula, the star cluster NGC 6530, and the Southern Delta Aquariid meteor shower. If you are lucky enough to have clear skies, don't hesitate to view these objects!
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| Smoky sunset |
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| Smoky sunset |
The pictures above were taken with my phone. It was a cloud free evening but the valley was filled with smoke. The below pictures were taken with my Nikon DSLR camera and a 13mm lens. Notice in the first picture that the mountain near the center of the image can barely be seen. In the last picture, I noticed Venus was barely visible near the center of the image. You may need to zoom in on both pictures to see the mountain and Venus, respectively.
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| Venus and smoke |
I hope to have more pictures to share soon. Check back at the end of the month for August's Monthly Night Sky Report! Stay safe and be sure to hope and pray to whatever Gods you believe in for clear skies!
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| Now get outside and look up! |
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