THE CONSTELLATIONS S T A R * * * CHART · JUPITER drops towards the Sun through July. By early...
2
SPACE STATION SIGHTINGS As the space station orbits the Earth, sunlight reflects off of its giant solar arrays. From Earth, it appears as a bright object moving high across the night sky. Visit www.heavens-above.com to get a list of upcoming ISS passes over your community. THE PLANETS MERCURY starts July low in the morning sky and then emerges into the evening sky in August. * VENUS is at its maximum brightness on July 9 but soon drops into the evening twilight, disappearing from view by the end of July and ending its evening appearance for 2015. * MARS emerges from behind the Sun in July, appearing as a 1.8-magnitude reddish “star” in Cancer. * JUPITER drops towards the Sun through July. By early August, Jupiter is lost in the solar glare. * SATURN is the primary planet this summer, shinning at magnitude 0.3 to 0.4 in Libra, just west of the head of Scorpius, low in the South. *FREE ASTRONOMY EVENTS AT THE OSC* July 4th, 10 a.m. – 12 p.m.: Solar Observing: Spot sunspots and solar flares through specially filtered telescopes. TELUSCAPE August 8th, 10 a.m. – 12 p.m.: Solar Observing: Spot sunspots and solar flares through specially filtered telescopes. TELUSCAPE www.ontariosciencecentre.ca Full OBSERVING TIP: Need a night-sky friendly flashlight? Cover a flashlight's lamp with brown or red paper to dim its light and preserve your night vision. S T A R CHART FOR LATE SUMMER July/August * 2015 * The star groups linked by lines are the constellations created by our ancestors thousands of years ago as a way of mapping the night sky. Modern astronomers still use the traditional names, which give today’s stargazers a permanent link to the sky myths and legends of the past. This season look for the Summer Triangle formed by the three bright stars Deneb, Vega and Altair. Each star marks the location of a separate constellation: Cygnus the swan, Lyra the lyre and Aquila the eagle. Find them high overhead during the mid-summer months. THE CONSTELLATIONS OBSERVING HIGHLIGHTS JULY 1 * Venus and Jupiter just 40 arc minutes apart in evening sky JULY 9 Venus at greatest brilliancy (magnitude -4.7) JULY 14 NASA New Horizons space probe at closest approach to Pluto JULY 16 Mercury and Mars 24 arc minutes apart very low in the morning sky JULY 18 * Thin waxing crescent Moon 1.5 o from Venus low in evening sky; Jupiter nearby AUG 6 * Mercury, Jupiter and Regulus in tight 1.5 o grouping very low in evening sky from Canada AUG 12 * Perseid meteor shower peaks in good moonless skies AUG 20 Mars in Beehive star cluster (M44) low in dawn sky * Impressive or rare event * * * JULY 1(10:19 p.m.), JULY 31(6:42 a.m.), AUG 29(2:37 p.m.) MOON PHASES New JULY 15(9:24 p.m.), AUG 14(10:53 a.m.)
Transcript of THE CONSTELLATIONS S T A R * * * CHART · JUPITER drops towards the Sun through July. By early...
SPACE STATION SIGHTINGSAs the space station orbits the Earth, sunlight reflectsoff of its giant solar arrays. From Earth, it appears as a brightobject moving high across the night sky. Visit www.heavens-above.com to get a list of upcoming ISS passes over your community.
THE PLANETS MERCURY starts July low in the morning sky and then emerges into the evening sky in August. *VENUS is at its maximum brightness on July 9 but soon drops into the evening twilight, disappearing from view by the end of July and ending its evening appearance for 2015. *MARS emerges from behind the Sun in July, appearing as a 1.8-magnitude reddish “star” in Cancer. *JUPITER drops towards the Sun through July. By early August, Jupiter is lost in the solar glare.
*SATURN is the primary planet this summer, shinning at magnitude 0.3 to 0.4 in Libra, just west of the head of Scorpius, low in the South.
*FREE ASTRONOMY EVENTS AT THE OSC*July 4th, 10 a.m. – 12 p.m.: Solar Observing: Spot sunspots and solar flares through specially filtered telescopes.
TELUSCAPEAugust 8th, 10 a.m. – 12 p.m.: Solar Observing: Spot sunspots and solar flares through specially filtered telescopes.
TELUSCAPE
www.ontariosciencecentre.ca
Full
OBSERVING TIP: Need a night-sky friendly flashlight?Cover a flashlight's lamp with brown
or red paper to dim its light andpreserve your night vision.
S T A RCHARTFOR LATE SUMMER
July/August
* 2015 *
The star groups linked by lines are the constellations created by our ancestors thousands of years ago as a way of mapping the night sky. Modern astronomers still use the traditional names, which give today’s stargazers a permanent link to the sky myths and legends of the past. This season look for the Summer Triangle formed by the three bright stars Deneb, Vega and Altair. Each star marks the location of a separate constellation: Cygnus the swan, Lyra the lyre and Aquila the eagle. Find them high overhead during the mid-summer months.
THE CONSTELLATIONS
OBSERVING HIGHLIGHTS JULY 1 * Venus and Jupiter just 40 arc minutes apart in evening sky
JULY 9 Venus at greatest brilliancy (magnitude -4.7)
JULY 14 NASA New Horizons space probe at closest approach to Pluto
JULY 16 Mercury and Mars 24 arc minutes apart very low in the morning sky
JULY 18 * Thin waxing crescent Moon 1.5o from Venus low in evening sky; Jupiter nearby
AUG 6 * Mercury, Jupiter and Regulus in tight 1.5o grouping very low in evening sky from Canada
AUG 12 * Perseid meteor shower peaks in good moonless skies
AUG 20 Mars in Beehive star cluster (M44) low in dawn sky
* Impressive or rare event
* * *
JULY 1(10:19 p.m.), JULY 31(6:42 a.m.), AUG 29(2:37 p.m.)
MOON PHASES New JULY 15(9:24 p.m.),
AUG 14(10:53 a.m.)
SE
NE
EA
ST
WE
ST
SOUTH
SW
NW
NORTH
Prepared for the Ontario Science Centre by SkyNews,the Canadian Magazine of Astronomy & Stargazing. SkyNews.ca
SkyNews.ca 1-866-759-0005
Cartography and design by Roberta Cooke. Base chart data derived from maps drawn by Roy Bishop for the Observer’s Handbook, published by The Royal Astronomical Society of Canada.
ROTATING NIGHT SKY: During the night, the Earth’s rotation on its axis slowlyshifts the entire sky. This is the same motion that swings the Sun on its daily east-to-west trek. The rotational hub is Polaris, the North Star, located almost exactlyabove the Earth’s North Pole. Everything majestically marches counter-clockwisearound it, a motion that becomes evident after about half an hour.
TO USE THIS CHART: Hold the chart in front of you and rotate it so the direction you are facing (N,S,E,W) is at the bottom of the chart. The edge of the chart represents the horizon; the overhead point is at centre. On a moonless night in the country, you will see more stars than are shown here; deep in the city, you will see fewer. The ecliptic line is the celestial pathway of the Moon and planets. The star groups straddling this line are known as the zodiac constellations. The Moon is shown for selected dates.
Download our most recent star chart:www.ontariosciencecentre.ca/tour/default.asp?demoid=75
OUR CHART SHOWS the major stars, planets and constellations visiblefrom Canada and the northern United States within one hour of these times:
EARLY JULY: 11:30 P.M.; LATE MAY: 10:30 P.M.
EARLY AUGUST: 9:30 P.M.; LATE JUNE: DUSK
