With 2020 now halfway through, July offers a heavenly respite starting this weekend.
With 2020 now halfway through, July offers a heavenly respite starting this weekend.
A lunar eclipse difficult to see and many planets await your gaze. Be sure to maintain social distance and wear a mask from your viewing location.
July 4th marks the farthest distance from Earth from the sun during the year, known as aphelion. (Earth is closest to the sun in January, known as perihelion.)
The full moon will undergo a penumbral lunar eclipse on July 5. Get more details on this very difficult to see moon shading in this Sky and Telescope article. Try using binoculars or a telescope to see the eclipse to the fullest.
The full moon will keep Jupiter and Saturn in the sky on July 5. Jupiter is the brighter of the two, with Saturn at the bottom left of the “King of the Planets”. The binoculars will show Jupiter’s four main moons, which you can identify through this app.
Jupiter and Saturn will be in the skies of the DC area throughout the night in July, as both planets will be in opposition to, or directly opposite the sun and rising at sunset. Jupiter is in opposition on July 13; It is July 20 for Saturn. Be sure to enjoy watching these two gas giants over the summer.
Not to be outdone, Mars rises at approximately 1am in the east and immediately grabs attention due to its orange color and brilliance. Mars will become much brighter in the coming months until October, when it is closest to Earth.
NASA plans to launch its next Mars Rover, Perseverance, this month. The rover will carry the first drone to be deployed to another planet and will look for signs of ancient life on Mars. Pretty exciting!
Finishing the planetary parade is the bright and beautiful Venus, rising in the east and visible on the horizon around 4:30 am Venus is in the beautiful winter constellation of Taurus the Bull, and will be very close to the bright star Aldebaran on 11 of July. The glorious Pleiades star cluster is just above Venus. The planet will grow in the sky before sunrise in the coming weeks and months.
To complete these sky-watching joys, there is a hard-to-see but bright comet very low on the northeast horizon in the pre-sunrise sky. Comet C / 2020 F3 (NEOWISE) will barely be above the horizon, so binoculars will really help.
The comet will enter the skies at dusk in the middle of the month and can be much easier to see. Only time will tell, since kites are like cats: who knows what they will do.
If you’re lucky enough to enjoy dark skies, in mid-July, when the moon is out of the sky after sunset, look out for the great Milky Way that arches across the sky from south to north. Our home galaxy is a sight to see in the summer and cannot be missed when in dark sky locations.
Follow my daily blog to stay up to date with the latest news on astronomy and space exploration. You can email me at [email protected].
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