Summer stargazing fun continues in July! Warm July nights are ideal opportunities to spend time outside exploring the heavens with family and friends.
Here are some of our top suggestions for July stargazing:
Jupiter Season Is Here
Look for the giant planet in our morning skies this month, with all sorts of activity moving across the disk. Catch the Great Red Spot (GRS) in the southern equatorial belt, along with festoons, barges, and some spectacular shadow transits. One superb shadow transit occurs the morning of July 18, when Io's shadow trails then catches the GRS as dawn begins brightening on the US west coast. Every day during July, Jupiter will rise earlier and higher as it becomes an evening target. Even when the "surface" activities on Jupiter's clouds seem quiet, there's always the four Galilean moons ever changing configuration to add interest. A fine simple app can show you all about the moons; search online for "Akkana Peck Galilean."
Scorpius Star Clusters
Throughout July, use astronomy binoculars or a telescope and wide-angle eyepiece for great views of some sparkling open star clusters. Both M6 ("The Butterfly Cluster") and M7 ("The Ptolemy Cluster") can be found near the "stinger" region of the constellation Scorpius.
July Nebulas
Scan the Summer Milky Way with astronomy binoculars or a telescope to reveal some of the best emission nebulas of July. Use an Orion Oxygen-III Nebula Eyepiece Filter for the most stunning views. In Sagittarius, track down M8 (the "Lagoon Nebula"), M20 (the "Trifid Nebula"), and M17 (the "Swan Nebula"). In the constellation Serpens Cauda, see the delicate "Eagle Nebula" (M16). Try using big binos to frame both M16 and M17 in the same field-of-view, or use a really large telescope to coax out the faint violet glow of M16.
Saturn and Mars Stick Around
Still well-positioned in July night skies, planets Mars and Saturn are wonderful planetary targets for telescopes. Look for the bright planets in south to southeastern July skies. Use an eyepiece that will yield at least 40x in your telescope to resolve the planets and reveal Saturn's beautiful rings and the reddish-orange coloring of Mars. To take a closer look, use a Barlow lens or higher-power eyepiece to increase magnification. While Mars, Saturn, and Saturn's brightest moon, Titan, can be observed in any size telescope, larger models will help you detect more features.
The Summer Milky Way
From a dark sky location in mid-July, the glorious Summer Milky Way shines as a band of light that stretches from the southern horizon to nearly overhead. As the night progresses, the Milky Way will arch across the entire sky. From a dark observing site, scan the Milky Way with 50mm or larger binoculars or a wide-angle telescope to explore some of the hundreds of open star clusters, emission nebulas and planetary nebulas that lurk among the star clouds.
Dying Stars and Glowing Gas
Look to the constellation Lyra with a telescope to catch one of the best planetary nebulas in the sky such as M57, the famous "Ring Nebula."
Late July Meteors
July winds down with the Delta Aquarids meteor shower. For the best chance to see meteors, look towards Aquarius after midnight on July 28th into the early morning hours of 29th. The Delta Aquarids is an average shower that can produce up to 20 meteors per hour. Sit back, relax and enjoy the show!
All objects described above can easily be seen with the suggested equipment from a dark sky site, a viewing location some distance away from city lights where light pollution and when bright moonlight does not overpower the stars.
