Dr Ian Musgrave brings us his July SkyGuide … telling us when, where and what to look for in the evening and morning skies this month.
Listen: https://soundcloud.com/astrophiz/astrophiz-195-july-skyguide
And July is again also a wonderful month for celestial observers.
As usual Ian gives us ‘Ian’s Tangent’ … and this month it’s all about the ‘Comet Ferret’, Charles Messier, and his famous catalog of 13 comets and 110 iconic ‘Messier Objects’ now known to be galaxies, nebulae and globular clusters. See if you can spot the ‘False Comet’ in the tail of Scorpius.
Then Ian gives us his ‘Astrophotography Challenge’ where he presents us with an achievable and challenging task to undertake with our cameras.
This month our challenge is to capture the occultation of the Mulayndynang/Pleiades cluster by the moon on Tuesday July 30
July’s Observing Highlights:
Most interesting observation can be made both early and in the later parts of the month, and the planetary action can be seen in both morning and evening skies.
Comet 12P is quite nice as a ‘telescope-only’ object
Comet C/2023A3 is brightening in Leo and is ‘binocular-visible’ later in the month
Mercury is excellent viewing all this month and at it’s best around 22 July
Saturn is found in the late evening sky, rising a little before midnight, and rising earlier as the month progresses
July 5 Earth is at aphelion point furthest from the sun
July Moon Phases:
July 6 New moon
June 12 Moon at apogee
July 14 First quarter moon.
July 21 Full Moon
July 24 Moon at perigee
July 28 Last quarter moon
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