What's to see in the night sky in July?

July, 2001

This chart represents the sky as it looks at around 10 PM local time. Some adjustment should be made for longitude, but it shouldn't be much. Right click on the chart, select "Save As" and save the image. You can then print this chart from a photo application, like Print Shop Pro, hold it in front of you with the direction you are facing at the bottom. Then, raise it above your head and you should be able to find your way around from there.

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Moon phases

New-7/1_____First Quarter-7/7____Full-7/14____Last Quarter-7/22

Planets


Mercury
Venus
Mars
Jupiter
Saturn

Meteor showers

Lots and lots of meteor showers this month! Unfortunately, none are very high yield. The best one may be the Southern Delta Aquarids, with an estimated 20/hr peak on the 27th. The most famous one starts on the 17th and slowly ramps up to peak in August-The Perseids-with a peak of around 140/hr on August 12th. Keep your eyes peeled for meteors, seemingly from everywhere.

Deep Sky Objects (DSO's)
Messier Objects

With the galaxies of Virgo sinking in the west, it's time for "Globular Central"-Scorpius, Ophiuchus and Hercules bring lots of BIG chunks of stars to bear. M13 in Hercules is the biggest and closest. Other examples, all great in their own right are, M92, M4, M80, M62, M19, M107, M10, M12, M9. This is as good a month as any to mention M6 and M7 in Scorpius. Two huge, rich binocular open clusters, just off the stinger stars in the Scorpions tail, they are lush with young, hot blue stars. M6 is called "the Butterfly Cluster" for a reason. Check it out!

Named DSO's

Look for the dark nebula called "The Pipe" straight north of the stinger stars in Scorpius. You'll need binoculars, dark skies and a low southern exposure to see it. It's very large and appears to have smoke rising to the north from the bowl of the pipe on the east. If you see it, you can call your skies "dark" with pride. :-)

Here's the link to SEDS as promised.

January's page February's page March's's page April's page May's page June's page
July's page August's page September's page October's page November's page December's page

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Page URL: http://www.stonehavenobservatory.com/Jul.html

Copyright 1999, Steve Dodder
Webmaster: Steve Dodder
Revised: 7/20/10