Caoimhín's Content

Today we will be looking ahead to the month of July. The first thing we will look at is something that we already know about. I’m going to talk about it again, but I have recently dealt with Mercury and its greatest elongation from the Sun. If you look back on the recent articles on this website, you will see one dealing with Mercury. However, we are starting with the start of the month of July, and that is when the greatest eastern elongation happens, so for that reason we are going to look at Mercury again. Unfortunately, from Ireland it is tricky to see, especially if there is anything in your way like hills or buildings. Mercury does become visible at a reasonable height, but with things like hills or trees, we won’t be able to see Mercury once we’re into July.

We will have a better chance of seeing it if we go to the beach, if we are looking out across something completely even and smooth without anything in the way. Starting on the 1st of July, we can just about see Mercury up above the horizon at sunset. If we push back into June, Mercury gets closer to the Sun, or at least further from us and closer to the Sun in our sky. However Mercury gets higher from the ground and brighter as well. For that reason we’re able to see Mercury a little bit earlier at night, and under less ideal conditions, even though it’s closer to the Sun in the sky. Moving back into July, Mercury gets further from the Sun, but it also gets lower and fainter. On the 4th of July Mercury reaches its furthest distance from the Sun, but it isn’t as bright or as high off the ground from Ireland. Mercury just isn’t as bright when it’s further from the Sun, which makes it harder to see. Even if Mercury is higher in the sky, as it would be if you were at the equator, planet still isn’t as bright, and therefore it is still very hard to see. Even with Mercury becoming impossible to see, we still have a planet to see at sunset, and that is the planet Mars. Mars is still visible, though low in the sky pretty early. Mars also isn’t too too bright, not as bright as Jupiter or Venus, but Mars it is there just as the Sun is setting.

Once we are into July we will be after the solstice, after the longest day of the year. Looking at the first week of the month, there won’t be much of a difference in the amount of light in the sky. There will still be a little light coming up from the north when we are at midnight, and the physical midnight will still be almost 1:30. However, the problem of extra light will be lessening and lessening as we push ahead into July. Even if July is still a hot summer month, the Sun is getting lower in the sky and the day is getting shorter as well. Going ahead to morning time, we can see both Venus and Saturn easily. Venus will be far from the Sun in the sky and very bright. This means we are able to see it until almost sunrise, which means about 5:15. That is still very early in the day, it is a little easier to see Venus in the winter, when Venus is still up and still visible, as late as 8 or even 9 o’clock.

Looking at a couple of the constellations, Pegasus is a lot higher in the sky as is Andromeda. There is a little bit of a difference at the start of the night as well, with the Summer Triangle appearing very high from the start of the night and staying with us till the end. The Summer Triangle will be almost in the middle of the sky soon after sunset. Scorpius is also visible from sunset, low to south, and Sagittarius is coming up while the Sun is setting as well. This is very different from this month or the past month. If we push ahead a little further into July, the day really starts to shorten and it is almost truly dark at 11:20. The Sun will be going down earlier and earlier in the night, and Mars is still there at sunset, but it isn’t very high in the sky, even when it first comes out at the start of the night.

From the city, the difference isn’t very clear to see, but we are able to see a couple of different constellations. Once the sky is dark, HIgher in the south is is Serpens the Snake and Ophiuchus the snake bearer. Ophiuchus itself is hard to see, but the Snake is just about visible. It will be in the middle of the sky for that part of the summer, a little bit after the middle of July. The constellations that are up are very different, but it is still the summer and for that reasons the night is still very very short. The summertime constellations aren’t as famous as the constellations that are in the middle of the sky during the summer. Compared to constellations like Orion, also known as An Bodach in Irish, that are up during the winter, other than the asterism of the summer triangle, the summer constellations are less known. Turning to the north, we can see always see the Plough or the Big Dipper. You can follow it up to the North Star, also known as “Réalt an Eolas” or the Star of Knowledge in Irish. If you continue across the sky to Cassiopeia, you’ll see that it and the Plough are almost level, at least in the middle of the night. At the beginning of the night the Plough is still a little bit higher, but the Plough isn’t over the North Star, as it was earlier in June.

The sky will be a lot nicer if we push out to the countryside. The Milky Way is crossing the sky very early in the night, as soon as the sky gets truly dark. As early as 11:45, quarter to midnight on the clock, rather than the physical midnight which is a little later during the summer, the Milky Way is visible. There is a little extra light in the sky, there is a little sunlight crossing into the north, but the light isn’t as bright or continuing for as long as it was at midsummer. It is close to the solstice, but a little darker, therefore the Milky Way is a little bit easier to see crossing the sky. We are still close enough to midsummer that the Milky Way is more or less straight up in the sky, passing through the summer triangle. If you are up early enough in the morning then you will be able to see it as well. Pushing ahead, by about 3 o’clock the Milky Way will be leaving the sky. The core of the Milky Way will be setting, but the outer edge of the Milky Way is visible, though that part is lighter and harder to see.

Around the middle of the month, the Moon will be up, which may also interfere with seeing the Milky Way. The New Moon is coming close enough to the end of the month. If we are at the end of the month then the night will be a little bit longer again. At the end of the month at sunrise Venus and Saturn are still up, with Uranus out by the Pleiades. Jupiter is also back in the morning. Jupiter will be coming back in the morning reasonably early in the month, but it will be higher and further from the Sun later in the month. It will be very easy to make a comparison between Venus and Jupiter as they get closer and closer in the sky. Unfortunately we will have to push ahead to August to see them at their closest point, but the both of them are up in the morning. You will clearly be able to see how bright they are with Venus the brightest and Jupiter the second brightest. If we push back again to the start of the night, still out in the countryside, we’re able to see the middle of the Milky Way. As soon as the sky is dark enough for it to be see, the core is already west of due south. Even right at the start of the night, the core is already starting to set. That’s going to continue as we get into August, the middle of the Milky Way will be setting while the Sun is going down. By the very end of the month the Moon is back at sunset, getting very close to Mars there. It isn’t much of a conjunction, they aren’t that close, but close enough to be nice to see at least.

That’s an overview of what we’ll see this month, but there is a meteor shower coming up as well, the Southern Delta Aquariids, so called because their radiant is in the southern portion of Aquarius. The Southern Delta Aquariids are the main meteor shower for July, but there are a couple of them going on. They will peak around the the 30th, with Stellarium indicating 25 or so meteors crossing the zenith every hour. Unfortunately, it seems like the rate is likely to be closer to 15 or so. There aren’t many meteors coming from this meteor shower, but it is sort of the main one in the coming month. Taking a look at some of the other ones, the Piscis Austrinids are also running. In this case, it’s the name of the constellation, the Piscis Austrinids aren’t coming from the Austral part of Pisces, just from Pisces Austrinus. Pisces Austrinus is the Southern Fish and it’s a completely different constellation. There aren’t many meteors coming from that shower, even on the best day for them, up to maybe 5, and they are low in the sky. If you think of the meteor shower as a sort of circle around the radiant, the center point of the shower, for the Piscis Austrinids half of that circle is under the ground for the Northern Hemisphere. A lot of the circle of the Southern Delta Aquariids is below the ground as well, they are a little bit better if you are on the other side of the planet. As always there are a few meteors coming through the sky from the antihelion point and a few other points as well.

The Alpha Capricornids are also peaking on the 30th, though there isn’t much coming from them. The Perseids are alos coming up, and their date range does extend into July, but their best day is coming up in August. They are much better than the Southern Delta Aquariids, but we’ll be able to talk about that when we are into August. The July Gamma Draconids are also running in July, there isn’t much coming from them either, but both they and the Piscis Austrinids are peaking on the 28th. As such, from the 28th to the 30th there will be a couple of meteor showers going on, at and around their peaks. We are going to come back to the meteor showers at the end of July. Those are a couple of the things that are coming up, and there are a couple of meteor showers coming up. They aren’t the biggest meteor showers, but still, there will be a few extra meteors in the sky.

If you get the chance, do go out to the countryside to look at the Milky Way and the meteor showers, the view will be much better out in the countryside. If you don’t get the chance, there are still the planets in the morning and Mars in the evening, along with Mercury, but it is easier to look for that planet before the end of June month. That’s one of the reasons that I am talking about it more than once, to give you a warning that its best point is coming up close to today, rather than the beginning of July. If you get the chance to look at a couple of these things in the real sky, hopefully you will know a little bit more about them now.

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