Minnesota Starwatch for July 2007
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Starwatch Newsletter

Minnesota Starwatch is a newsletter describing the night sky in the Midwest.

It is updated monthly, and is produced by the
Department of Astronomy, University of Minnesota
116 Church Street SE, Minneapolis, MN 55455

Minnesota Starwatch for July 2007

Hello, this is Minnesota Starwatch for July 2007.

This month the new moon will be on the 14th; the full moon on the 29th and the third and first quarters will be on the 7th and the 22nd, respectively.

If the weather cooperates, this month you can see most of the planets of the Solar System: Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, and possibly even Uranus. Mercury and Venus, being the closest two planets orbiting the Sun, are always seen either at dawn or dusk, that is, close to the Sun, but with the full glare of our star blocked by the Earth. Watch for Mercury before sunrise, about 10 degrees above the horizon, during the second half of the month.

This month offers a close duo of Venus and Saturn, which can be seen early in the month, at dusk in the western sky. As the month progresses the two planets drift further apart. By the end of the 2nd week and beginning of the 3rd, Venus and Saturn are still relatively close together, but now there is also a crescent moon (first quarter) within a couple of degrees of the two planets. Towards the end of the month Mars will be seen rising before 1a.m., and can be spotted close to the Pleiades star cluster. During the middle of the month Jupiter will be seen an hour or two after sunset.

To see planets beyond Saturn a pair of binoculars is required, but the sharp-eyed among you, sky-gazing far from city lights, may be able to see Uranus in the constellation Aquarius on the side closest to Pisces. Even if you cannot find this faint distant planet, you might be interested to know that Uranus is in the retrograde portion of its celestial track throughout July. Retrograde motion means that the apparent direction of motion in the sky is westward, opposite to its usual eastward movement. Uranus made this apparent U-turn in its journey in the middle of June, and will continue in it until late November. Unfortunately, retrograde motion is not easily detected. One generally needs a pair of binoculars, and many days of cloudless observations to track the slow progress of a planet against the background stars. It so happens that all three of the outermost planets, Uranus, Neptune and Pluto (regardless of its planetary status!) will be in retrograde motion this July.

For fun Astronomy Outreach programs check out our Public Outreach link, or if you're interested in how you can help build the new Minnesota Planetarium, please call 612-630-6151 or visit http://www.mplanetarium.org.

The Minnesota Starwatch is produced by the University of Minnesota Astronomy Department.