{"id":212,"date":"2017-07-01T03:19:53","date_gmt":"2017-07-01T03:19:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.skycaramba.com\/monthly\/?p=212"},"modified":"2017-07-01T03:19:53","modified_gmt":"2017-07-01T03:19:53","slug":"july-2017","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.skycaramba.com\/monthly\/july-2017\/","title":{"rendered":"July 2017"},"content":{"rendered":"

Mercury and Mars are sunset objects for northern hemisphere observers at the start of July. Mercury gets a little easier to see but stays typically close to the horizon all month. Watch for it to pass the star Regulus around the 25<\/span>th<\/span><\/sup>\u00a0as the constellation Leo lowers in the sky evening after evening. Conveniently, a very thin crescent moon is close by on the 25<\/span>th<\/span><\/sup>\u00a0and 26<\/span>th<\/span><\/sup>\u00a0to guide you to the star and the planet. The messenger planet is at greatest elongation on the 30<\/span>th<\/span><\/sup>. It\u2019s 27.2 \u00b0 east of the sun and is thus somewhat easier to find than usual.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Mars continues going under with the sunset and eventually loses its evening object status. Don\u2019t count on finding it after conjunction. It will still be too close to the sun at month\u2019s end after conjunction on the 27<\/span>th<\/span><\/sup>. The best views for both Mercury and Mars this month are close to the equator.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Jupiter stays prominent in Virgo. A first quarter moon passes the star Porrima just a little west of the big planet in the early hours of the 1<\/span>st<\/span><\/sup>\u00a0Universal Time. For viewers in eastern North America, this will be an occultation. Then the moon passes Jupiter a few hours later. It will pass Jupiter again on the 30<\/span>th<\/span><\/sup>.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Saturn hangs at the south end of Ophiuchus this month. A nearly full moon passes the ringed planet on the 7<\/span>th<\/span><\/sup>. Saturn is a nice sight all evening as it\u2019s on the meridian when the sun sets for those in the northern hemisphere and a little east of it for those in the southern hemisphere.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Dim Uranus rises in Pisces not long after local midnight.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Much brighter Venus rises in Taurus a little later. Watch the goddess scoot toward the Hyades for a conjunction with Ain on the western end of the V on the morning of the 12<\/span>th<\/span><\/sup>. Venus has passed north of the V for this month\u2019s Venus-moon conjunction on the 20<\/span>th<\/span><\/sup>. By the end of July, the planet\u2019s destination for August is obviously Gemini now rising before the sun.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The moon\u2019s phases this month: first quarter on the 1<\/span>st<\/span><\/sup>, full moon on the 9<\/span>th<\/span><\/sup>, last quarter on the 16<\/span>th<\/span><\/sup>, new moon on the 23<\/span>rd<\/span><\/sup>, and first quarter again on the 30<\/span>th<\/span><\/sup>.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The moon will be farthest south on the 8<\/span>th<\/span><\/sup>, over the equator heading north on the 15<\/span>th<\/span><\/sup>, farthest north on the 21<\/span>st<\/span><\/sup>, and going south across the equator on the 28<\/span>th<\/span><\/sup>.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Lunar apogee is on the 6<\/span>th<\/span><\/sup>\u00a0with a center-to-center distance of 406,000 km. Perigee is on the 21<\/span>st<\/span><\/sup>\u00a0at 361,300 km.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

This month\u2019s lunar occultations: Porrima on the 1<\/span>st<\/span><\/sup>\u00a0at 02:02 for eastern North America and again on the 25<\/span>th<\/span><\/sup>\u00a0at 10:04 for northeast Russia, Aldebaran on the 20<\/span>th<\/span><\/sup>\u00a0at 00:01 for India and Pakistan, Mercury on the 25<\/span>th<\/span><\/sup>\u00a0at 08:48 for Japan, and Regulus on the 25<\/span>th<\/span><\/sup>\u00a0at 10:37 for western Indonesia and western Malaysia.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Earth\u2019s farthest from the sun on the 3<\/span>rd<\/span><\/sup>\u00a0at 152.1 million km.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Pluto is at opposition on the 10<\/span>th<\/span><\/sup>.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Mercury and Mars are sunset objects for northern hemisphere observers at the start of July. Mercury gets a little easier to see but stays typically close to the horizon all month. Watch for it to pass the star Regulus around the 25th\u00a0as the constellation Leo lowers in the sky evening after evening. Conveniently, a very […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[48],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-212","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-48"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.skycaramba.com\/monthly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/212","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.skycaramba.com\/monthly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.skycaramba.com\/monthly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.skycaramba.com\/monthly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.skycaramba.com\/monthly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=212"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.skycaramba.com\/monthly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/212\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":213,"href":"https:\/\/www.skycaramba.com\/monthly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/212\/revisions\/213"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.skycaramba.com\/monthly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=212"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.skycaramba.com\/monthly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=212"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.skycaramba.com\/monthly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=212"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}