<\/p>\n
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0After a couple of months with no evening planets gracing our skies, both <\/span>Mercury<\/b> and <\/span>Saturn<\/b> will make their appearance late in the month.\u00a0 It will be a bit of a viewing challenge, but on July 29, Mercury will appear just below the very young <\/span>Crescent Moon<\/b> in the WNW 20 minutes after sunset.\u00a0 Shining at magnitude -1.1, it will be located 6 degrees from the horizon.\u00a0 By August 15, Mercury will have reached its highest position above the horizon at 10 degrees.\u00a0 One hour after sunset, Saturn will be visible in the ESE very close to the horizon.\u00a0 At mag +0.1, it will continue to brighten as it nears opposition in mid-August.\u00a0 At opposition, the planet will be directly opposite the <\/span>Sun<\/b> and at its closest point to the <\/span>Earth.\u00a0 <\/b>This event happens approximately 13 days later each year.\u00a0 The <\/span>Rings of Saturn<\/b> will be tilted 13 degrees upward from our vantage point making them quite easy to view with a small scope or perhaps even binoculars.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0The bulk of the planetary activity will continue to be in the morning sky throughout July.\u00a0 Even though we started out talking about Mercury appearing in the evening sky, it will actually still be in the morning sky briefly, dropping out of sight in the first week.\u00a0 Perhaps we should just make the early and late July observations of <\/span>The Winged Messenger<\/b> our challenge for the month and call it good.\u00a0 Look for Mercury in <\/span>Taurus the Bull <\/b>\u00a040 minutes before sunrise in the ENE.\u00a0 The Sun\u2019s closest, and therefore speediest, neighbor will be out of view until it pops up in the west as previously described above.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>Venus, <\/b>viewed an hour before sunrise in the ENE, begins the month 4 degrees to the upper left of the star <\/span>Aldebaran <\/b>in Taurus and will end the month 36 degrees to the lower left of the same star.\u00a0 Shining at mag -4.0, it will be the easiest of the morning planets to locate.\u00a0 <\/span>Jupiter\u2019s<\/b> -2.2 mag will also be easy to locate in the southeast.\u00a0 Jupiter will begin a period of retrograde motion (it will appear to move across the background stars in the opposite direction as the Earth overtakes and passes it) which will last until November 23.\u00a0 By then, it will have moved 9.9 degrees west.\u00a0 <\/span>Mars<\/b> will begin the month 20 degrees to the lower left of Jupiter and continue to put distance between the two.\u00a0 Les prominent that Jupiter at mag -1.5, it will end the month 39 degrees to the lower left of Jupiter.\u00a0 Looking south an hour before sunrise, <\/span>Saturn <\/b>should be visible to the naked eye in <\/span>Capricornus, <\/b>the mythical half goat – half fish <\/span>Sea Goat,<\/b> although various sites give its present magnitude as .69 to .77<\/span>.\u00a0 Uranus<\/b> will be just 1.7 degrees to the upper left of Mars on July 31 and with its faint 5.6 mag, your best bet to finding it is a pair of binoculars and the Mars reference point.\u00a0 <\/span>Pluto, <\/b>at mag 14 and<\/span> at opposition on July 19, will take a large telescope to find located a few degrees north of the asterism known as the <\/span>Territory of the Dogs.<\/b><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/b>For the number crunchers out there, the <\/span>Earth<\/b> will be at Aphelion, or the farthest point from the Sun, on July 4 when we will be 1.0167 Astronomical Units (au) or about 94.5 million miles from our closest stellar neighbor.\u00a0 The <\/span>Moon<\/b> on the other hand, will reach <\/span>perigee <\/b>ten hours before the <\/span>Full Moon<\/b> on July 13th. This closest distance to the Earth, at 221,993 miles, will result in the closest Full Moon of the year, a so-called <\/span>Supermoon.\u00a0 <\/b>Because the Moon\u2019s orbit around the Earth is elliptical in nature, our natural satellite will be at its farthest distance, or <\/span>apogee<\/b> on July 26 when it will be 252,446 miles away.\u00a0 Other Lunar highlights will include the<\/span> very young <\/span>Crescent Moon<\/b> visible an hour after sunset in the WNW on July 1-3, the <\/span>First Quarter Moon <\/b>on July 6, the <\/span>Last Quarter Moon <\/b>on July 20 and the <\/span>New Moon <\/b>on July 28.\u00a0 If you are like me and like to see how early you can catch the young Crescent Moon, you will get another chance in the early evening hours of July 29 and 30.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0If you were disappointed in the \u2018meteor storm\u2019 that had been predicted for the May 31 <\/span>tau Herculids meteor shower,<\/b> you are not alone.\u00a0 There was some high haze along Lake Superior\u2019s southern shore, but enough stars were visible to make one believe any amount of activity would have been visible.\u00a0 While reports from across the country indicated there were some tau Herculids captured on film, one of the big western observatories reported their \u2018all sky\u2019 observation scope revealed just 19 taus and 4 other random meteors over a 2.5 hour period spanning the anticipated hour of peak activity.\u00a0 Like the unsuccessful hunters, fisherman, and copper pickers lament, we can only say, \u201cMaybe next time!\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0A quick note about swimming!\u00a0 On the day before the Summer Solstice (June 21, 2022), a canoe paddler capsized near Eagle Harbor, MI and when rescued, he had to be treated for hypothermia.\u00a0 This is no surprise as the Lake Superior buoys at that time recorded the lake temperature at a less than balmy 43 degrees F.\u00a0 In spite of our coolish early summer weather, I remain convinced we will get our fair share of swimming over the next three months.\u00a0 Many people do not realize the big lake takes longer to warm up than the land, but it also retains that heat well into the fall.\u00a0 Some of the nicest swimming days happen after Labor Day.\u00a0 It is always fun to see horrified tourists wandering the beaches in sweatshirts and vests only to see the locals still swimming the lake.\u00a0 Even when it isn\u2019t \u2018basking on a beach towel\u2019 weather, a quick dip and a trip home are a treat to enjoy as we slip from summer into fall.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>Compiled by Ken Raisanen of WOAS-FM – information provided by <\/span>Abrams Planetarium Sky Calendar<\/span><\/i>, Michigan State University.\u00a0 More information and subscription information can be found on their website at <\/span>http:\/\/abramsplanetarium.org\/<\/span><\/a>skycalendar\/ or on Twitter at <\/span>http:\/\/twitter.com\/AbramsSkyNotes<\/span><\/a>.\u00a0 Yearly subscriptions cost $12 and can be started anytime.<\/span><\/p>\n Top Piece Video:\u00a0 Nothing says ‘Summer’ like a tune from the Beach Boys!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0After a couple of months with no evening planets gracing our skies, both Mercury and Saturn will make their appearance late in the month.\u00a0 It will be a bit of a viewing challenge, but on July 29, Mercury will appear just below the very young Crescent Moon in the WNW 20 minutes after sunset.\u00a0 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