These notes are intended to provide a casual sky watcher or someone already into amateur astronomy living in Eastern Australia with a summary of what is happening in the night sky in July 2013. The finder charts have been produced for an observer based on the Gold Coast (Queensland, Australia) but will be useful for observers elsewhere in Eastern Australia.
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Planets for July 2013
Venus is visible low above the Western horizon as evening twilight ends. Saturn is visible above the Northern horizon at the end of evening twilight. Mars and Jupiter are visible low above the North Eastern horizon as morning twilight begins. Neptune rises around 8:15 pm mid-month and Uranus rises just after 11 pm mid-month. Mercury moves into the morning sky and becomes visible in the bright morning twilight in the second half of July.
Meteor Showers for July 2013
The location of the Moon in the morning sky as July ends will unfortunately interfere with the visibility of faint meteors from three reliable meteor showers that occur this month. More information on the α-Capricornids, Southern δ-Aquariids and the Piscis Austrinids meteor shower can be found on the International Meteor Organisation website at http://imo.net/calendar/2013.
Individual Sky Events for July 2013
All times AEST unless otherwise stated.
All month: If you are lucky enough to live away from bright street lights, don’t forget to look for the ancient Aboriginal constellation The Emu. Unlike traditional European constellations, Aboriginal constellations can use the dark patches (in reality giant dust clouds drifting in space that obscure light from background stars) in the Milky Way to represent creatures from the Dreamtime. Background information about the Emu can be found at http://www.abc.net.au/science/articles/2009/07/27/2632463.htm#.UaIGsfFqM7y. The head of the Emu is made up of what astronomers refer to as the Coal Sack nebula located in the constellation Crux (more commonly known as the Southern Cross) and the body stretches across the ancient Greek constellation Scorpius and the legs past it. It is an enormous constellation and once you have seen it from a dark sky site, you will wonder why you had never noticed it before. A finder chart can be found at http://astroblogger.blogspot.com.au/2009/07/seeing-emu.html. Note that the real constellation is much more like an emu than that shown in the finder chart.
2 July 2013: 10 am Pluto at opposition
5 July 2013: Venus at greatest latitude North
5 July 2013: Moon and Aldebaren close (morning sky)
6 July 2013: 1 am Earth at aphelion (1.01671 astronomical units from the Sun)
6 July 2013: 5 am Comet C/2011 F1 (LINEAR) located close to the star e Eridani. The comet is forecast to only reach magnitude +11.7 requiring a dark sky and and a minimum 8 inch aperture telescope to have your best view of the comet. e Eridani is magnitude +4.26.
6 July 2013: Moon and Mars close. Morning twilight sky.
7 July 2013: 11 am Moon at apogee (406,490 km from the Earth in its orbit)
8 July 2013: 5:14 pm New Moon
9 July 2013: 2 pm Saturn stationary
10 July 2013: 5 am Mercury in inferior conjunction
11 July 2013: Venus and Moon close. As evening twilight ends.
16 July 2013: 1:18 pm First Quarter Moon
17 July 2013: Saturn and Moon close. Evening sky.
18 July 2013: 10 am Uranus stationary
19 July 2013: Mercury at greatest latitude South
20 July 2013: Midnight Mercury stationary
22 July 2013: 6 am Moon at perigee (358,401 km from the Earth in its orbit)
22 July 2013: Mercury, Mars and Jupiter visible low on the North East horizon before morning twilight begins.
22 July 2013: Venus and Regulus (the brightest star in the ancient Greek constellation Leo the Lion) close. After evening twilight ends.
23 July 2013: 4:16 am Full Moon
30 July 2013: 3:43 am Last Quarter Moon
30 July 2013: 7 pm Mercury at greatest elongation West (19.6 degrees)
For Further Information
Customised Astronomy & Satellite Viewing information
Information on how to obtain customised astronomy & satellite viewing information for your location can be found here on this website.
Information About The Finder Charts
Charts accompanying this article have been produced with permission using the highly recommended Sky Safari Pro tablet app. Stars are shown to 5th magnitude. This is a compromise between what would be seen from a dark sky site and the reality that most people live in cities or towns with significant light pollution.
References
The information in this post has been prepared using the following references.
Astronomy 2013, Quasar Publishing http://www.quasarastronomy.
Sky Safari Pro Ipad app, http://www.southernstars.com/