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Sky Highlights and NEKAAL Events for JULY 2015

  • July 1 – Full Moon (the “Thunder Moon” or “Hay Moon”)
  • July 8 – Last Quarter (moon absent from evening sky)
  • July 11 – OPEN HOUSE at Farpoint Observatory, JOIN US beginning 9:00 pm
  • July 15 – New Moon
  • July 18 – possible OPEN HOUSE at Farpoint Observatory, 9:00 pm - (check later)
  • July 23 – First Quarter
  • July 23 – NEKAAL GENERAL MEETING, Topeka Library, 7:00 pm
  • July 31 – Full Moon (a “Blue Moon”, 2nd full moon in same month)

PLANETS in July 2015

Evening Sky:

  • Venus – in west, very bright
  • Jupiter – in west, very bright
  • Saturn – in south

Midnight:

  • Saturn – in southwest
  • Neptune – in southeast

Morning Sky:

  • Mercury – in northeast
  • Uranus – in southeast
  • Neptune – in south

CONSTELLATIONS well placed in evening during July 2015

North to South, at 10-11 pm:

  • Ursa Minor, the Little Bear, also the Little Dipper
  • Draco, the Dragon
  • Hercules
  • Lyra, the Lyre
  • Corona Borealis, the Northern Crown
  • Ophiuchus, the Serpent Handler
  • Scorpio, the Scorpion

SKY EXTRAS in July 2015

  • Jupiter and Venus still make a brilliant, close pair in early July.
  • And it's Saturn season. The next few months give the best evening views of the ringed planet, so get a look through binoculars or better still, a telescope (hint: if the sky is clear at our Open House, someone will have his telescope pointed at Saturn–you're guaranteed to get a good look).
  • Venus will show a nice phase–half-lit, half-dark–through any small telescope this month. Look for it early July low in the western sky.
  • The Summer Triangle of stars is back, too. In July evenings, look high in the eastern sky.
  • Comet C/2014 Q2 (Lovejoy) has faded too much to be visible in binoculars. It's moving from Ursa Major into Draco this month, still fading. Catch it in the early evenings if you can.
  • Though you won't be able to see it, don't forget about New Horizon's encounter with Pluto July 14.
  • No bright meteor showers to speak of this month. August will be better.