Monthly Night Sky Report: July 2024

Introduction

     June was a hot month for Utahns overall. We did experience a few cooler, much more pleasant days, but most remained too hot for my liking. As far as stargazing, I could not do much aside from capturing a few images of the very active Sun. I plan to take my telescope out for the first time this year at the beginning of July.

    The seventh month of 2024 will bring the return of the Southern Delta Aquariid meteor shower, a good chance to prepare for the Perseids in August. Venus returns to the evening sky this month and will be paired with Mercury. The rest of the planets will continue to be found in the morning sky before sunrise. The Moon will pass close by all of the planets from our vantage point this month, but only Mars and Uranus will have a close planetary conjunction. Optical aid will be required!    

                      

Mercury

    The innermost planet hovers above the western horizon throughout most of July. After enjoying a clear view of the sunset, watch for Mercury to come into view within 30 minutes or so. On the first evening, Castor and Pollux, the twin stars of Gemini, can be found to the north (right) of Mercury. This tiny world will increase its altitude above the horizon, allowing it to stay up late like an astronomer. A thin crescent Moon can be found above Mercury on the 7th, with Venus just below the pair for observers with a clear western view. Mercury will reach its greatest eastern elongation on the 22nd but may be harder to spot as it dims while it moves away from the Sun. 

  

Venus

    For nearly two months, Venus has been lost from our earthbound view. That changes in July when this planet finally returns to the evening sky. Venus will be close to the western horizon and may be difficult to spot unless a high elevation and clear view to the west can be achieved. Mercury can be found floating above Venus throughout July. A two-day-old Moon can be seen above these two planets on the 7th. 

    

Mars

   Mars will continue to follow Saturn and Neptune in the morning sky. On the 1st, Mars will rise around 3:30 AM with a crescent Moon. Mars will appear to move eastward in the sky, creeping closer to Uranus until the 15th. On this date, the pair will be roughly 0.5° apart. A pair of binoculars or a telescope will nicely show this pair of planets. The Pleiades can be seen a small distance away during this planetary conjunction. Both planets can be found in Taurus the Bull, with the red glow of Mars nearly matching the red color of Aldebaran, the red eye of Taurus. The Moon will again join Mars in the sky on the 30th. An astute observer will notice Mars moving closer to bright Jupiter. These two planets will have a must-see conjunction early next month.     

Jupiter

Saturn

    Jupiter will rise above the eastern horizon close to 4:30 AM for Utahns. It will remain the last planet to rise in the morning until August, when Mars, in its retrograde motion, moves to last place. Jupiter will be easy to spot against the background stars of Taurus. With each passing day, this region of the sky will rise earlier. Aldebaran, the red eye of Taurus, can be found just below Jupiter during the first week of July. Around the middle of July, the pair can be found just 5° apart. By the end of the month, Jupiter and Aldebaran will be further apart but at the same altitude above the eastern horizon. A thin crescent Moon will join Jupiter in the sky on the 3rd and again on the 30th of July. This month is great for viewing Jupiter through a telescope during the warm nights. The Galilean Moons will make several transits of their parent planet this month. I recommend using the Moons of Jupiter & Saturn app for Android or the Galilean Moons of Jupiter web app to find the transit times of these moons and the Great Red Spot. Both of these resources allow the user to find the transit times of some of Saturn's moons, while the web app also provides a map of Mars to help observers learn about what they can see on the Red Planet. 

   Saturn will continue to be the first planet to rise above the eastern horizon during July. The ringed world will be found against the background stars of Aquarius. Saturn's rings are nearly edge-on from our perspective on Earth, making them slightly harder to detect through small telescopes. The rings will nearly disappear in March of 2025, when they will be edge-on. During the next several months, as Saturn tilts toward the Earth, several transits of its moons can be seen. The app and web app suggested above will help find the times of these transits. The Earth's Moon will join Saturn in the sky on the 24th.    

   

       

Neptune

Uranus

    

    Uranus will be found along the western edge of Taurus the Bull throughout the month. Binoculars or a telescope will help bring out this planet's blue-green color. Mars, which shines brightly compared to Uranus, will be close by on the 15th; the pair is only 0.5° away from each other from our perspective. The Moon will join Uranus on the 2nd and 29th of this month.      

 
    Neptune will be in Pisces throughout July and will appear to barely move against the background stars from night to night. The Moon will join this most distant planet on the 25th and be separated by only 3°.     

Aquariids and Olbers

    The Southern Delta Aquariid meteor shower returns this month. While it's not the best shower of the year, it will give observers the chance to find a dark sky and appropriate gear for the Perseids in August. The Aquariids will peak on the 31st with a maximum rate of 25 meteors per hour. There will be a waning crescent moon in the sky, which will wash out the dimmest meteors, but observers should still be able to spot some debris burning up in the atmosphere. Look towards Aquarius, which will rise above the mountains as the Sun sets and is the current home of Saturn.

    Comet Olbers can still be seen in the evening sky near the feet of Ursa Major. This comet will be visible all month but requires optical aid and a clear view of the northwest sky. Astrophotographers with any level of experience should be able to capture its tail glowing against the background sky.  

Monthly Breakdown

July 01: Moon passes within 4° of Mars
July 02: Moon passes within 4° of Uranus
July 03: Moon passes within 5° of Jupiter  
July 05: New Moon 🌑
July 07: Moon passes within 3° of Mercury
July 13: First Quarter Moon 🌓
July 15: Mars and Uranus conjunction
July 21: Full Moon 🌕
July 22: Mercury reaches greatest eastern elongation
July 24: Moon passes within 0.5° of Saturn 
July 25: Moon passes within 0.5° of Neptune 
July 27: Last Quarter Moon🌗
July 29: Moon passes within 4° of Uranus
July 30: Moon passes within 5° of Mars

July 30: Moon passes within 5° of Jupiter

July 30: Southern Delta Aquariid Meteor Shower peaks 

 

         

Now get outside and look up!

Planet images were taken by NASA.

Andrew vs. the Cosmos image was taken by Jeff Greenland.

The Milky Way and Trees image was taken by Andrew Greenland.

Orion, Taurus, and Pleiades image was taken by Andrew Greenland.

                

                

Midmonth Check-In: June 2024 and Neptune

    

  Introduction and Monthly Reminders   

    Although hot, the first few weeks of June have been great for stargazing. I was unable to do any serious stargazing but was able to look up and see the Moon and the stars after sunset. Observers can still see the Moon pass close by Spica and Antares, as well as Saturn and Neptune. The Summer solstice will occur on the 20th, and the Full Moon will occur on the 21st.    

Neptune

    Neptune was discovered by Johann Galle in 1846 and is the first planet located through mathematical calculations. With an average distance of 30 AU, Neptune is the most distant known planet orbiting our Sun. It takes Neptune 165 Earth years to complete a revolution about the Sun, and it has only completed one orbit since its discovery. One day on Neptune lasts only 16 hours. This most distant planet is named after the Roman god of the sea, Neptune. 

    Neptune formed about 4.5 billion years ago with the Sun and the rest of the solar system. Astronomers believe that Neptune formed closer to the Sun and has since been pushed outward due to the gravitational interaction of the planets, the Sun, and even other stars passing close to our own. Like Uranus, Neptune is considered an ice giant, a planet made up of water, methane, and ammonia in an icy state. Both planets also have large amounts of hydrogen and helium. like the gas giants. It is also believed that Neptune has a small rocky core, perhaps about the same mass as the Earth. It has even been speculated that all of the rocky planets, Mercury, Venus, Earth, and Mars, were once ice giants but could not hang onto their thick atmosphere due to solar winds. Out of all the giant planets, Neptune is the most dense. 

    Like the other giant planets of the solar system, Neptune also has rings and many moons. The ring system is not as elaborate as that of Saturn, but Neptune does have at least five main rings. Neptune is home to at least 16 moons, with one being more peculiar than any other large moon in the solar system. Triton, the largest moon of Neptune, is slightly larger than dwarf planet Pluto and orbits around Neptune in the opposite direction of any other large moon in the solar system. Due to this peculiar motion, astronomers believe that Triton likely came from the Kuiper Belt and was gravitationally captured by Neptune. 

    Neptune has a diameter of about 30,800 miles, making it slightly smaller than Uranus. Both ice giants are made up of the same materials and, as such, have about the same color, despite the images first released by NASA. The first images show Neptune as a deeper blue color, like the ocean, to help reveal the details of the storms in its atmosphere. Neptune is tilted slightly on its axis at 28° so it experiences seasons, like Earth and Mars. Unlike the inner planets, the seasons last for over 40 Earth years.     

    In the 178 years since its discovery, Neptune has only been visited by one spacecraft. In 1989, Voyager 2 flew by Neptune, returning the most used image of this planet to date. There are currently no scheduled missions to return to this ice giant. 

    

    Check back soon for my next post!

    

Now get outside and look up!