Welcome to this issue of
Qué tal in the Current Skies


Here you will find useful observing information about the visible planets, our Moon and other moons, the Sun, as well as various 'things' celestial. Among these web pages you will find monthly star maps for either the northern or southern hemisphere that are suitable for printout. Animated images are utilized to illustrate celestial motions such as orbital motions of the planets, and other solar orbiting objects, or apparent and real motions along the ecliptic and the local horizon. Regular features include plotting the monthly positions of the visible planets using heliocentric coordinates; following - moon phases; conjunctions; Sun's apparent, and Earth's real motion along the ecliptic.


Volume 30          Issue 7
July 2024
   Month at a Glance:

     This month the two inner planets, Mercury and Venus, are both working the evening skies with Mercury being best seen for viewers south of the equator. Venus slowly works its way into the evening skies but will be better seen next month as its separation from the sun continues increasing.
     Our planet reaches its furtheast distance from the Sun, aphelion, this month.
     Mars continues its presence in Taurus near the Pleiades and the Hyades open star clusters. Watch on the mornings of the 14th-16th for Mars to catch up and pass by the planet Uranus for a very close conjunction of about 0.6o.
     The gaint ringed planets Jupiter and Saturn are both visible in the morning skies rising a couple of hours before sunrise local time.
     Dwarf Planet Ceres stays at around 7.0 apparent magnitude so it would only be visible with optical assistance. It is located within the stars of the teapot-shaped asterism for Sagittarius the Archer, and the glow of the Milky Way.

Click here for the month at a glance calendar.


What is this? "It's a prediction of when Lees Summit, MO, will have good weather for astronomical observing." Click on the graphic to go to the Clear Sky web site.


Mercury will be visible as an evening planet for most of this month as it moves toward its greatest eastern elngation on the 22nd. This apparition for Mercury favors viewers in the Southern Hemisphere.
Venus joins Mercury in the evening skies this month but will be low above the horizon and somewhat of a challenge to view. Wait until next month.
Mars is located near Uranus and the Pleiades open star cluster. Mars will pass very closely to Uranus on the 14th and 15th coming within about 0.6o.
Dwarf Planet Ceres is moving across the stars making the handle of the teapot-shaped asterism for Sagittarius, but with an apparent magnitude more than 7.0 seeing Ceres would require some optical assistance.
Jupiter rises ahead of the Sun and is located near the Hyades open star cluster in Taurus the Bull. Jupiter is very visible as each morning the separation between it and the Sun steadily increases, putting the giant ringed planet higher above the eastern horizon.
Saturn is moving in retrograde for the nearly the rest of the year as its retrograde loop, apparently carrying it westward across the stars of Aquarius the Water bearer, and eventually ending in November.
Uranus rises with the stars of Taurus the Bull, near the Pleiades open star cluster, and the planet Mars. Uranus has an apparent magnitude just below 6.0 meaning that in dark enough skies it may be visible using binoculars, and possibly the unaided eye.

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July Sky Calendar

01. Moon-Mars Conjunction
02. Moon-Pleiades Conjunction
03. Moon-Jupiter Conjunction
04. Moon at Northernmost Declination: 28.4° N
05. Earth at Aphelion: 1.0167 AU
         (94,479,989 miles: 152,096,155 km)
      New Moon
06. Mercury-Beehive Conjunction
07. Moon-Mercury-Beehive Open Star Cluster Conjunction

08. Jupiter-Aldebaran Conjunction
12. Moon at Apogee: miles 251,207 miles (404,400 km)
      Moon at Descending Node
13. First Quarter Moon
      Moon-Spica Conjunction
17. Moon-Antares Conjunction
19. Moon at Southernmost Declination: 28.4° S
20. Mars-Pleiades Conjunction
      Sun enters the Astronomical sign of Cancer the Crab
21. Full Moon

22. Mercury at Eastern Elongation: 26.9° E
      Sun Not Really entering the Astrological sign of Leo the Lion
24. Moon at Perigee: 226,670 miles (364,900 km)
      Moon-Saturn Conjunction
26. Moon at Ascending Node
27. Delta Aquarid Shower: ZHR = 20
      Last Quarter Moon
29. Moon-Pleiades Close Conjunction
July 1July 1 - 5:30 am CDT)
July 2July 2 - 5:30 am CDT
July 3July 3 - 5:30 am CDT
July 6July 6 - 9:00 pm CDT
July 7July 7 9:00 pm CDT
July 8July 8 - 5:30 am CDT
July 13July 13 - 9:00 pm CDT
July 17July 17 - 9:00 pm CDT
July 20July 20 - 5:30 am CDT
July 24July 24 - 6:00 am CDT
July 29July 29 - 5:00 am CDT
July 30July 30 - 5:30 am CDT

2024: Above the Solar System at 10 day Intervals
Planet Coordinates for July


Planet coordinate data for the visible planets and the Sun at 10-day intervals for this month.
Click here to see the web page showing this information, and also for a larger and easier to read version of the above graphic.



July 2024: Above the Terrestrial Planets at 5-day Intervals
My Local Time: CDT (UT-5)
Lee's Summit, Missouri, U.S.A.
38.9116°N, 94.3617°W

Your Current Local Date and Time:
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Some Astronomy Web Links


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Click here to read the Privacy Statement for this web site (I don't bite!!), and about this web site and me.
    Disclaimer: Any use of my posted information, in any manner whatsoever, will raise the amount of disorder in the universe. Although no liability is implied herein, the reader is warned that this process will ultimately lead to the heat death of the universe.

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