Astronomical twilight will still last all night and the northern skies will never be dark enough for deep sky photography.
Planets:
Mercury
Mercury begins the month as an evening object, but it is getting ever closer to the Sun in the evening sky and therefore more difficult to observe. It reaches inferior conjunction (between Sun and Earth) on 13th and then passes into the morning sky. Its high declination means that it will be well placed in the morning sky before sunrise by the end of the month. It’s diameter will be about 8 arcsec.
Venus
Venus is now a very prominent evening object and increasing its elongation from the Sun throughout the month, reaching 45o by the end of the month. The disc diameter is only about 17 arcsec and increases to 20 arcsec, while the phase decreases to 52% by the end of the month.
Mars
Mars is not well placed, but does rise around 3 am (BST) in Taurus. With a diameter of 4.7 arcsec and magnitude 1.3, it is not an easy object. Best to wait until late in the year.
Jupiter
Jupiter reaches conjunction with the Sun on 29th July and is therefore not really observable this month
Saturn
Saturn is now a morning object and rises around midnight. It is magnitude 0.7 and lies below the square of Pegasus. The rings are open to about 6.5o, and therefore more noticeable.
Uranus
Uranus is now a morning object in Taurus, but still difficult to observe. Its coordinates are RA: 4h 08m, Dec: +21o.
Neptune
Neptune is now a morning object and is not far from Saturn. RA: 0h 15.5m, Dec: 0o 20’
Moon Phases:
| 7th July: Last Quarter | 14th July: New Moon |
| 21st July: First Quarter | 29th July: Full Moon |
Meteor Showers
The Perseid meteor shower starts this month, around the 17th and lasts for a month. The Perseids are associated with debris from the comet Swift-Tuttle. Moonlight could be a bit obtrusive early in the evening, but late in the night prospects are much better. They reach a maximum next month of up to 140 per hour. They are fast moving and often contain some bright ones.
Sun
We remain near solar maximum, so watch out for major sunspots and sunspot groups. Remember to never look at the Sun directly without a proper solar filter.
Aurora
The skies remain too bright this month and so aurorae will not be visible, unless extremely powerful and bright.
Deep Sky Objects
The very light evenings make deep sky observing very difficult now, although the Milky Way will be more visible late in the night. Cygnus is well placed as well.
The Whirlpool Galaxy (M51), below Ursa Major, as well as the Pinwheel galaxy (M101) just above the handle of the Plough are now very well placed high in the sky. The M13 globular cluster in Hercules is also now well placed and a good object for binoculars, small telescopes or astrophotography.
Neil Havard.
Any questions or for more information, contact Neil at coordassist@cotswoldas.org.uk