Volume 30 Issue 7
July 2024
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.
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.
