Moon
First Quarter 7th 12:35
-- 02:13
Full 14th 20:40 -- 05:04Last Quarter 21st 01:38 -- 12:26
New 28th 04:54 -- 20:52
It looks promising for a
good summer, well, it does so far. Still not much good up in the skies though,
need clearer skies please, even though they’ll not get dark for the next few
months.
Planets.
Mercury is an evening
object this month and on the first it may be seen setting after the Sun, at
9:00pm, half an hour after the Sun has set. On the 10th it will set an hour and
a half after the Sun so giving plenty of time to study its 75% phase and mag
-0.9/6 arcsec disc. By the 17th it will set 2 hours later than the Sun, at mag
-0.2/7 arcsec, with a phase of 55%. On the 24th it will set a little bit later
than on the 17th, after this it will start to return to the Sun and on the 31st
it will present a mag 1.3/9 arcsec disc with a phase of 23%, and back to
setting an hour and a half after the Sun, as it gets closer to Earth. It will
go on to present an ever decreasing phase and larger disc, but that will be
next month.
Venus will rise this
month almost an hour before the Sun on the 1st, so well represented as the
Morning Star, a mag -4.1/17 arcsec disc of 67% phase. On the 16th it will rise
at 4:00am, at mag -4.0/15 arcsec with a 72% phase, accompanied by Uranus, a
degree above. By the 25th it will rise just an hour before the Sun accompanied
this time by a thin crescent Moon between it and Uranus. The brightness of
Venus may burn out the tiny Uranus, but the Moon should hold its own to provide
a good photo opportunity. Venus will rise on the 31st at 3:45am, with little
change to its other parameters. A good Morning Star appearance.
Mars will already be well
up in the sky as it darkens about 9:00pm on the 1st. A mag -1.2/14 arcsec disc,
gradually passing its best of last month, as Earth passes it on the inner track
round the Sun. It will set at 4:45am in the lightening dawn. On the 11th and
12th it will be accompanied across the sky by a fat Moon, making observing a
bit less easy. By the 16th it will be at its highest (33°) in the sky as it
becomes visible in the south in evening twilight, and set at 3:45am as dawn
lightens the sky. On the 31st it will already be well past its southing point
and descending towards the west to set at 2:45am, in a still dark sky, a mag
-0.5/12 arcsec disc. It will fall further and further behind Earth in the
following months, becoming smaller and smaller in telescopes.
On the 1st, Jupiter will be very high (44°) up in the WSW on its way to
the western horizon as it becomes visible at Sunset about 8:30pm, as a mag
-2.1/35 arcsec disc. It will set at 1:45am, in a dark sky. On the 10th it will
again be up high in the sky as it becomes visible, but allowing less time for
study, only 4.5 hours before it sets at 1:15am. A smaller and dimmer disc too,
at mag -2.0/34arcsec. At the end of the month its mah -1.9/33 arcsec disc will
set at a little after midnight. It will have been visible for less than 3
hours, the Sun having set at 9:15pm. This is almost the last of Jupiter till
late August.
Saturn will lift its mag
0.1/19 arcsec disc above the eastern horizon on the 1st at 9:15pm in twilight.
It will rise only 20° high in the south before coming down to set at 6:00am,
but the dawn twilight will have overtaken it well before then. It will still
have its rings set near their widest and will present a beautiful sight. On the
10th it will rise at 8:30pm and set at 5:30am in twilight. For the whole of the
month it will be available all night, but at this time of the year the whole
night isn't very long, particularly as it rises only to 20° or so above the
southern horizon.
Uranus will rise on the
1st at 5:00am, 40 mins before the Sun, a tiny mag 5.9/3 arcsec disc, not easily
seen in dawn twilight. On the 16th it will be just a degree from bright Venus,
having risen at 4:00am about an hour before the Sun. By month's end it will
rise at 3:00am, some 90 mins before the Sun so should be reasonably easy to see
in binoculars.
Neptune, a morning object
this month, in Aquarius, will come up in the east at 4:00am on the 1st, a mag 7.9/2
arcsec disc, 90 mins before the Sun, and 30 mins before Venus, 20° to the left,
which will give an indication as to where to look for this tiny body, before it
is extinguished by twilight. On the 17th it will rise at 3:00am, and will still
be difficult to see in the absence of other stars nearby to act as pointers,
and the brightening dawn. The only one that could help is Lambda AQR, 4° to the
left. By the 31st it will be rising at 2:00am, about 3 hours before the Sun,
making it a bit easier to find. Lambda AQR will still be 4° to the left,
remaining the best signpost for this tiny blue dot.
Meteor Showers.
There are 8 known showers
peaking this month, but only the Eta Aquariids are of note having a ZHR of 65
bright flashes in the sky. The peak is on the 5th and the radiant is in
Aquarius, very near where Neptune is.
Comets. C/2012 X1 LINEAR
is at mag 11.9, in Capricornus, on the 1st, but may not be bright
enough to combat the dawn twilight as it gets up later and later. By the end of
the month it will have faded to mag 12.2 and will be up too late to be seen
before dawn brightens the sky.
C/2012 K1 PANSTARRS is
currently at mag 13, and very close to Alkaid, at the end of the handle of the
Plough. But as with all diffuse objects it’ll appear much fainter than mag 13.
A new comet has come onto the scene. C/2014 E2 Jacques at mag 10.8 in lower Monoceros, so not too easy to find, but it’s moving upwards and will be right next to NGC2264 on the 30th at mag 4.1!
We are now well
into “galaxy season”, when the Milky Way moves off centre stage to allow us to
see the sky above the band of stars, Leo, Virgo, Coma, Ursa Major are good
hunting grounds. The busiest area is perhaps the Coma/Virgo part of the sky,
though in almost all cases an instrument of some size will be needed, or a
camera, DSLR or CCD. Most will be small so a focal length to suit, longer than
1000mm preferred, and guided, or lots of short exposures, though that will incur
greater read noise, not a major problem.
Happy hunting.