The Last Minute Astronomer - July Episode

Hosted by Rob Webb.

July’s fireworks include Saturn coming back around closer to being an evening planet, Mercury and Venus dancing low in the evenings, and some magic between the Moon and Spica.

1st - Waning Crescent Moon is just above Mars in the AM

3rd - Up and to the left of Jupiter in the AM

6th - Above Venus, to the left of Mercury, NNW just after sunset

7th - Above Mercury, NNW just after sunset

24th - To the right of Saturn, after 11pm, waning gibbous

25th - To the left of Saturn, after 11pm, waning gibbous

30th - Above Mars and Jupiter, ENE after 2am, waning crescent

31st - Left of Jupiter, ENE after 2am, waning crescent

July 13th – Lunar Occultation of Spica – Not so common to be able to see a star stop shining and then start back up again…sort of. Check https://is.gd/july2024spica for timings for your area, but the gist is that North and Central America, particularly on the Eastern side, will be able to watch Spica wink out as the dark side of the Moon crosses in front of it.  As an example, if you live near Harrisburg, PA, look WSW for the Moon after 11pm.  Right around 11:24pm Spica will disappear.  Unfortunately, this happens only about 10° above the horizon, leaving the reappearance invisible to us.  Reappearance will be visible before the Moon hits the horizon if you live approximately west of the Mississippi.

Music was produced by Deep Sky Dude and used with permission. 

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