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Starwatch NewsletterMinnesota Starwatch is a newsletter describing the night sky in the Midwest.
It is updated monthly, and is produced by the |
Minnesota Starwatch for July 2009
Welcome to Starwatch for July 2009!
Warm summer nights mean ideal conditions for viewing the heavens, and there is a lot to see this month. Whether you are up at the lake viewing the midnight sky from the velvety darkness of the shoreline or coming home from a late evening event in the Twin Cities, turn your gaze upwards and take a good look.
On July 20 this year the moon will be just approaching the New Moon phase. Forty years ago, there was a full moon lighting the sky the night that astronaut Neil Armstrong made his "giant leap for mankind" during the historic U.S. Moon Landing. As you reflect on the 40th anniversary on the Moon Landing, recall that Armstrong's footprints remain indelibly printed on the lunar surface - a lasting monument to humankind's limitless desire to explore the unknown and push back the frontiers of knowledge.
July is a great vacation month, and if you happen to be traveling in Southeast Asia on July 22, prepare yourself for a total solar eclipse. A partial eclipse will be visible throughout much of the Eastern Hemisphere from Russia in the north to Australia in the south.
Even Hawaii will see a part of the solar eclipse, but if you are spending the summer in Minnesota, you will have to count on other heavenly light shows. How about a meteor shower, for example?
Although August's Perseid meteor shower is better known, you may be able to see some of the shooting stars of the Delta Aquarid shower in the early hours of July 28. Unfortunately, some of the 20 or so meteors that might be expected hourly will be washed out by that night's first quarter moon. When you see the brief streaks of light from the shooting stars of meteor showers you are actually watching an encounter with debris from the tails of comets as they pass through the earth's atmosphere. If you were watching the skies from the Southern hemisphere you would see the shower's radiant - the point from which all the meteor streaks appear to be coming. Because the radiant of the Delta Aquarid shower lies below the celestial equator, up here in the Northern Hemisphere, the shower will appear only as random flashes of light punctuating the night sky.
One of the most eye-catching sights of this month's night sky appears in the early morning hours of July 18 and 19 when the waning moon will be in conjunction with Mars and Venus. Around 4:15 A.M. you can see the crescent moon passing Mars and Venus about 15 degrees above the horizon in the northeast quadrant of the sky. Making the sight especially lovely will be the appearance of the constellation of the Pleiades or "Seven Sisters" which illuminates the background of the conjunction. You may also see the giant red star, Aldebaran, as it appears directly to the right of Venus.
Venus and Mars are the main morning stars this month, while the only visible evening planet will be Saturn, which rises at 10 to 20 degrees above the western horizon around 10 P.M.
The Department of Astronomy's summer Universe in the Park program continues during the month of July with events being held at Lake Maria, Afton, William O'Brien, Camden, and Lake Shetek State Parks and the Dodge and Eastman Nature Centers. Events will be held on Friday and Saturday nights and will begin with a short presentation on one of a number of astronomy topics ranging from the Solar System to the History of the Matter, followed by telescope viewing of the night sky (assuming cooperative weather, of course). The program is free and open to the public, so feel free to bring your friends! More information can be found at www.astro.umn.edu/outreach/uitp/.
The Como Planetarium in St. Paul's Como Park offers limited star shows. For more information, call (651) 293-5398 or check their website at www.planetarium.spps.org. If you're interested in how you can help build the new Minnesota Planetarium, please call 612-630-6151 or visit www.mplanetarium.org.