Eagleseye

Sky Diary for July 2010

by Dave Eagle

KEEP LOOKING UP

For a printable PDF version of this page, click here.

LATEST SPACEFLIGHT NEWS
The ISS is currently visible throughout the night.

The last two scheduled shuttle Missions are:
Discovery – September 16th.
Endeavour – Mid November.

Visit Heavens-Above for more details of ISS and other satellite spotting opportunities.

Any questions, comments or have I made a mistake?
E Mail me: (Dave@eagleseye.co.uk).

I always try and keep this page as up to date as I can, so keep visiting regularly for the latest information.

Sky condition prediction for Higham Ferrers.

ALL TIMES Universal Time (UT) (=GMT) Unless stated.

The Stars (22:00h on the 1st, 21:00h on the 15th and 20:00h on the 31st of the month).

Dark skies are gradually making their way back from our latitude. Low in the southern sky are the constellations of Sagittarius and Scorpius, the former forming a distinctive tea pot shape. The curving tail of the Scorpion curves below our horizon. From a dark site the Milky Way is glorious as it flows right the way across this region marking the direction towards the centre of our home galaxy. Towards the north the bright yellow star Capella is skirting the horizon, as the winter stars are just about to start making their reappearance (already?). In the western sky Leo is setting. Hercules and Draco lie almost overhead. In the eastern sky Pegasus is leaping up into the sky from the Eastern horizon.

The Moons and its phases this month.

Moon phase calendar generated using Graphdark By Richard Fleet. Click here to download.

4th – Last Qtr.
11th – New
18th – First Qtr.
26th – Full.

As an aid to identifying the planets and stars, the Moon will be close to:
Slide 1

The Planets.

Mercury
Moves away from the Sun during the month, but is unlikely to be seen in the evening twilight.

Venus
Still very bright in the western sky at magnitude -4.2. Is now getting a lot lower in the evening sky as the angle of the ecliptic changes to the horizon. Close to Regulus on the 10th.

Mars
Visible towards the west after sunset. Now trying desperately to keep away from the approaching twilight. It will lose this race by the end of the month.

Jupiter
Easy to spot as a bright -2.6 magnitude object in the eastern sky  before sunrise. Getting higher in the sky each morning.

Saturn
Also starting to fall into the evening twilight. Approaches Mars which it reaches by the end of the month, but will be challenging to observe in the bright sky.

Uranus & Neptune
Now visible in the morning sky.

The Sun
A new solar cycle has started, and the Sun has had a recent flurry of sunspot activity with some nice large spots groups now appearing.
Click here for latest news.
There have also been some large prominences visible from time to time, so if you have access to a solar scope, take a look.

All times UT (GMT) Unless otherwise stated.

Thank you for visiting my site, I hope you have found it of interest.

If you have, or even if you have not, please let me know so I can improve: dave@eagleseye.co.uk

Dave Eagle

Eagles Eye On The Sky.

Keep Looking Up!