Any casual look at the evening night sky around this time will show a very bright orange ‘star’ to the south. That is the planet Mars which has been drawing closer to the Earth throughout spring. Past its closest point, just around the time of its opposition, the Earth is now gaining distance as it moves off away from Mars and plods further on along our orbit around the Sun.
Throughout July we shall see each one of the planets in our solar system making an appearance in the night sky. Jupiter is the first one visible high in the evening skies, soon after sunset. With each evening, it sinks lower and lower closer to the western horizon, setting around two hours after sunset by the end of the month.
However, during the last half of July, Jupiter will be joined by Mercury and Venus, sitting above the north-westerly horizon, very low in the bright sunset twilight. Make sure you have an unobstructed horizon to catch a glimpse of these two planets. Watching them after sunset from places like Dingli Cliffs is best. Jupiter will be highest, followed by Mercury and Venus (lowest).
To the left of Mars, in the southern skies, Saturn is also visible close to the bright red supergiant star Antares, in the constellation Scorpius, the scorpion. This is a very large constellation with the unmistakeable curve of the scorpion’s stinger. A faint band of light can be seen from any decently-dark sky location – that is none other than the Milky Way, thousands upon thousands of stars which amass together since we are looking in the direction towards the centre of our Milky Way galaxy. Light pollution kills this spectacle so head to the countryside for best views. Places like Imtaħleb and Dingli Cliffs offer good viewing opportunities.
Further out, Uranus and Neptune also start making themselves seen in the eastern skies before dawn. However, one will need a pair of binoculars or, better still, a telescope to see them. Pluto, the celestial object formerly known as a planet, is closest to the Earth next week. It is, however, a very faint object and in fact was not discovered until 1930 by Clyde Tombaugh. No detial is visible from the Earth, as Pluto appears as a tiny point of light. Its motion gave it away however, as Tombaugh examined photos shot on different dates and found that it moved in between each image. This same comparison technique is still used nowadays for the discovery of transient objects like novae, supernovae, comets and asteroids.
www.maltastro.org
Astronomical events in July
July 04: New Moon
July 04: Earth aphelion (furthest from the Sun, 152 million km)
08: The Moon close to the bright star Regulus in Leo
09: The Moon close to the planet Jupiter – identification aid
12: First Quarter Moon
13: Moon apogee: 404 300km away
16: The Moon close to the planet Saturn
19: Full Moon
26: Last Quarter Moon
27: Moon perigee: 369 700km away
30: Mercury close to the star Regulus