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Night Sky Page
(As mentioned in Astronomy Now August 2007 p43)
The Summer Night sky July 2010 - August 2010
All data sourced from Sky Map Pro v11 edited by R.Williams
The coming of the Summer months of July and August with long hours of daylight restricts the opportunities to view the many wonders of the northern Night Sky.
However, at this time of year, the more settled weather conditions along with the run-up to one of the years' major meteor Showers, the Perseids in mid-August, means that there is still plenty to whet the appetite of both the casual and regular night-sky observer.
All times are in BST.
July 2010 Sky
The Moon
Last quarter: 14:35 04-Jul-2010
New moon: 19:40 11-Jul-2010
First quarter: 10:10 18-Jul-2010
Full moon: 01:36 26-Jul-2010
The Planets - Thursday 01 Jul 2010
The Sun is in Gemini. It rises at 04:46, transits the meridian at 13:14, and sets at 21:42. The length of the day is 16h 56m.
The Moon is in Aquarius with a phase of 76%, and is 19.3 days old. Last Quarter will occur in 2.9 days time. It transits at 04:41, sets at 10:16, and rises again at 23:31. It is visible in the morning sky.
Mercury is in Gemini with a magnitude of -1.8, a phase of 99%, and a diameter of 5". It rises at 04:53, transits at 13:30, and sets at 22:08. It is currently too close to the Sun to be observed.
Venus is in Leo with a magnitude of -4.0, a phase of 71%, and a diameter of 16". It rises at 08:24, transits at 16:04, and sets at 23:42. It is visible in the evening sky.
Mars is in Leo with a magnitude of +1.4, a phase of 91%, and a diameter of 5". It sets at 00:18, rises again at 10:48, and transits at 17:31. It is visible in the evening sky.
Jupiter is in Pisces with a magnitude of -2.5 and a diameter of 42". It rises at 00:43, transits at 06:45, and sets at 12:47. It is visible in the morning sky.
Saturn is in Virgo with a magnitude of +1.1 and a diameter of 17". It sets at 00:51, rises again at 12:13, and transits at 18:30. It is visible in the evening sky.
Uranus is in Pisces with a magnitude of +5.8 and a diameter of 4". It rises at 00:36, transits at 06:37, and sets at 12:37. It is visible in the morning sky.
Neptune is in Aquarius with a magnitude of +7.8 and a diameter of 2". It transits at 04:37, sets at 09:31, and rises again at 23:39. It is visible in the morning sky.
Pluto is in Sagittarius with a magnitude of +14.0. It transits at 00:51, sets at 05:09, and rises again at 20:29. It is well placed for observation throughout the night.
The Stars at 11pm BST
North – Bootes, Perseus and Andromeda are low down, Cassiopeia is nicely placed – try to find M103 and also M52 in Cepheus – looking like a house on its side just above the 'W' of Cassiopeia. Wind the clock back one hour to 10pm BST and you may catch a glimpse of Comet C/2009 R1 McNaught as a 5th magnitude blob midway between Gemini and Auriga – it skirts the northern horizon at 1am but never sets on this night.
East – Lyra and Cygnus are prominent in this view. Andromeda and Pegasus are near the horizon and you should easily spot the 'kite-shaped' formation of Delphinus.
South – Hercules is high up with Ophiuchus and Serpens nicely placed. Virgo and Libra can be found and if you can head south of the UK, you will be able to see two of the richest of the Zodiacal constellations of Scorpio and Sagittarius. Sagittarius is said to resemble a 'tea-pot' with the Milky Way as 'steam' coming out of its spout. Both of these groups contain many rich Messier objects. To the north-west of Sagittarius lies Scutum which includes M11, the Wild Duck Cluster – an easy binocular object. High up is Lyra, with M57 the ring nebula and nearby is Sagitta – the arrow – which contains M27 – the Dumbbell nebula and M71 – a nice open cluster of about 50 stars.
West – Ursa Major is high up with leo and Virgo starting to set – you can see Venus, Saturn and Mars at this time.
Meteor Showers
There are a number of minor meteor showers in July, the brightest of which are the delta-aquarids, which are active between 15th July and 20th August with a peak between the 29th July and 6th August. Aquarius rises at around 10pm, just as the sky is getting dark, but the Moon will be a waning gibbous crescent making it difficult conditions to view this shower.
August 2010 Sky
The Moon
Last quarter: 04:59 03-Aug-2010
New moon: 03:08 10-Aug-2010
First quarter: 18:14 16-Aug-2010
Full moon: 17:04 24-Aug-2010
Last quarter: 17:22 01-Sep-2010
The Planets - Sunday 01 Aug 2010
The Sun is in Cancer. It rises at 05:26, transits the meridian at 13:16, and sets at 21:06. The length of the day is 15h 41m.
The Moon is in Pisces with a phase of 64%, and is 20.9 days old. Last Quarter will occur in 1.5 days time. It transits at 05:22, sets at 12:43, and rises again at 22:32. It is visible in the morning sky.
Mercury is in Leo with a magnitude of +0.2, a phase of 56%, and a diameter of 7". It rises at 08:07, transits at 15:00, and sets at 21:51. It is visible low in the west after sunset.
Venus is in Virgo with a magnitude of -4.2, a phase of 58%, and a diameter of 20". It rises at 09:51, transits at 16:08, and sets at 22:24. It is visible in the evening sky.
Mars is in Virgo with a magnitude of +1.5, a phase of 93%, and a diameter of 5". It rises at 10:34, transits at 16:36, and sets at 22:38. It is visible in the evening sky.
Jupiter is in Pisces with a magnitude of -2.7 and a diameter of 46". It transits at 04:46, sets at 10:48, and rises again at 22:39. It is visible in the morning sky.
Saturn is in Virgo with a magnitude of +1.1 and a diameter of 16". It rises at 10:25, transits at 16:37, and sets at 22:48. It is visible in the evening sky.
Uranus is in Pisces with a magnitude of +5.8 and a diameter of 4". It transits at 04:34, sets at 10:34, and rises again at 22:30. It is visible in the morning sky.
Neptune is in Aquarius with a magnitude of +7.8 and a diameter of 2". It transits at 02:32, sets at 07:25, and rises again at 21:36. It is well placed for observation throughout the night.
Pluto is in Sagittarius with a magnitude of +14.0. It sets at 03:03, rises again at 18:25, and transits at 22:42. It is well placed for observation throughout the night.
*** On the first of August at around 10pm BST, Venus, Mars and Saturn all group up in the constellation of Virgo, near the star beta Virginis ***
The Stars at 10pm BST on 1st August
North – Ursa Minor and Cepheus are nicely placed with Perseus near the horizon.
East – Lyra is high up with Cygnus nicely placed. Comet 103P/ Hartley is an 12th magnitude object in Pegasus.
South – Hercules is high up with Ophiuchus, Sagittarius and Scorpio near the horizon. Scutum is nicely placed.
West – Corona Borealis and Bootes are nicely placed, with Leo and Virgo near the horizon.
Meteor Showers
August's highlight is the Perseid Meteors Shower. Originating from a periodic Comet, Swift-Tuttle; the Perseids put on a regular bright show every year, with enhanced activity on some years.
Comet 109P/Swift-Tuttle, to give its full title, has a 130 year orbit, the last return being in 1992. It is a large comet some 27Km in diameter and at this time it is in a 1:11 orbital resonance with Jupiter – in other words for every 11 orbits of Jupiter around the Sun, the comet makes exactly one orbit of the Sun. It has been observed as far back as the first century BC. Its orbital parameters are so well known that ion 15th September 4479 it will pass as close as 3 million kilometres from the Earth.
Over the past few years the activity of the Perseid meteor Shower has been steadily increasing and like the Leonid shower of mid-November, its properties have been extensively studied and modelled such that it is possible to predict when the next likely major storm will take place – that, unlike the Leonids, is many hundreds of years into the future.
The shower is visible from mid-July until mid-September but the best time to view is on the 12th/13th August when Perseus is high in the sky, at around 0300 BST until dawn about 2 hours later.
For 2010, the Moon will only be 2 days old - setting at 2110 so this year will be a good year if the weather is clear, to see this shower.
A look ahead to the Autumn Night Sky
September sees the arrival of a fairly bright Comet, Comet 103P/Hartley.
On the 15th of September at 10pm BST, you will find it high up due South at 10pm, at a magnitude of 7.4, in the constellation of Andromeda, near the star Iota. It sits near a 'bowl-shaped' asterism made up from Lambda, Kappa, Iota and Omicron Andromedae, on the first branch of the group up from Delta And. If you put Lambda Andromedae in the top LHS corner of your binocular field you will glimpse NGC 7662 – the Blue Snowball Nebula at the bottom of the view and the comet near the top RHS of the view.
October- 10pm BST – the Comet has now moved into the constellation of Perseus and on the 15th of the month, it can be located near the star b Persei. If you can locate Lambda and Nu Persei, the Comet will make up a right-angled triangle with this pair – the Comet is now 5th magnitude – again 8x50 binoculars will shows this group well. This will be the best time to view this comet – especially on moonless nights.
November – the comet has now moved into the morning sky. It has faded a little to magnitude 6 and is in the constellation of Monoceros.
The comet will still be visible as an 8th magnitude blob in the morning skies of December in the constellation of Canis Major. On the 15th of the month it makes a close pass with M46 and M47.
By January it will have faded to below 10th magnitude, still in Canis Major.
Other things to look forwards to in the Autumn Night skies.
Orion will be visible in the morning skies.
Jupiter will be visible all night in September, October and until 0200 in November at a slightly higher altitude than 2009, near the circlet of Pisces.
October sees the Orionid meteor shower of the 20th of the month – this coincides with a waxing gibbous Moon so this shower will not be easy to view, until near dawn when the moon sets at 0500.
November sees the Taurid meteor shower around the 1st of the month – the moon will be last-quarter so this could be a good time to view this shower – it can have numerous very bright fireballs – often significantly brighter than Venus.
Also in November is the Leonid meteor shower on the 16th to 18th of the month. There will be a waxing gibbous moon setting at around 0300, with Leo rising at around 11pm – so quite a challenge to stay up late or get up early to see this shower. Since 1999 this shower's activity has been dropping each year so it might be better to wait until 2032/2033 for the next major peak of this shower.