Southern Skywatch July 2021 edition is now out!

Evening sky on Saturday, July 12 showing the western sky as seen from Adelaide at 18:22 ACST (60 minutes after sunset). Venus is close to both Mars and the thin crescent Moon. 

 (similar views will be seen Australia wide at the equivalent local time, 60 minutes after sunset) click to embiggen. 

The July edition of Southern Skywatch is now up.

This month the planetary action is mostly in the evening skies, Earth is aphelion, Saturn and Jupiter readily visible in the late evening skies, Venus has some interesting encounters and is close the beehive cluster. Mercury is good in the morning sky, “Blue” Last Quarter Moon and the Southern Delta Aquarids meteor shower.

July; Last Quarter Moon, 3 July; Venus in the Beehive cluster. 6 July; Earth at aphelion. July 6; apogee Moon. July 8; Mercury close to the thin crescent Moon. July 10; New Moon. July 12; thin crescent Moon, Mars and Venus close. July 13; Mars and Venus close. July 17; First Quarter Moon, July 21; perigee Moon. July 21; Venus near Regulus. July 24; the Moon close to Saturn. July 24; Full Moon. July 26; the waning moon is near Jupiter. July 30; Mars near Regulus. July 31; “Blue” Last Quarter Moon.

 MercuryMercury climbs higher the the morning twilight and is highest on the 5th, then it sinks back to the horizon and is lost by mid-month. On the 1st Mercury is two hand-spans from the horizon half an hour before sunrise and at magnitude 1 should be readily visible a hand-span below distinct red Aldebaran. Mercury is close to the thin crescent Moon on the 8th. On the 15th Mercury is just over a hand-span from the horizon half an hour before sunrise. By the the 30th Mercury is lost in the twilight.

Venus is now easily visible in the evening sky 30 minutes after sunset (I can see it as early as 15 minutes after sunset). Venus begins to dominate the early evening twilight and come closer to Mars. On the 3rd Venus passes the outskirts of the Beehive cluster, unlike Mars’s encounter last month the brilliance of Venus will make the cluster hard to see even in binoculars. On the 12th Venus and Mars are a finger-width apart and Venus is a mere 3 finger-widths from the crescent Moon. On the 13th Venus and Mars are half a finger-width apart. On the 21st and 22nd Venus is nearly to finger-widths from the bright star Regulus.

Earth is at aphelion on July 6 when it is furthest from the Sun.

Mars Mars is low above the western horizon, best seen an hour to an hour and a half after sunset. At the beginning of the Month Mars moves closer to Venus. On the 12th Mars and Venus are a finger-width apart and Venus is a mere 3 finger-widths from the crescent Moon. On the 13th Mars and Venus are half a finger-width apart. On the 30th Mars is less than a finger-width from the bright star Regulus.

Jupiter Jupiter is readily visible around 11 pm local time and continues to climb into the late evening sky. On the 25th the waning Moon is between Saturn and Jupiter. On the 26th the Moon is close to Jupiter

Saturn rises well before midnight from the beginning of the month but is still best seen telescopically in the morning for the first hald of the month. On the 24th the waning moon is above Saturn and Jupiter. On the 25th the Moon is between Saturn and Jupiter. On the 26th the moon is near Jupiter, then on the 27th the waning moon again forms a line with Jupiter and Saturn.

The Southern Delta-Aquarids meteor shower runs from from 12 July to 23rd August, peaking on Friday July the 30th. The number of meteors you will see depends on how high the radiant is above the horizon, and how dark your sky is. This shower is faint, with the highest rate of around a meteor every 7 minutes

Apogee June 6; Moon at perigee June 21.