Hay, Space Placers!
Tonight if you have a clear view of the Western horizon 30 minutes or so after the Sun sets, go hunting for Venus and Mercury. The two inner planets will be visible but challenging to find - binoculars will really help. Venus is going to get higher and brighter in the Western sky through summer while Mercury will dive towards the Sun in a few days.
In the East, Saturn will be rising as it gets dark and will be visible all night. Saturn’s rings almost form a straight line in a telescope as seen from Earth and is quite the sight.
Before dawn on the mornings of July 30th and 31st there will be a beautiful pairing of the Waning Crescent Moon - look for Earthshine - with Mars and then Jupiter. The constellations of winter will be the starry backdrop to the view.
If you are lucky enough to have dark skies be sure to check out the Milky Way which is entering prime time viewing for the Northern Hemisphere. The ghostly band starts in the constellations Scorpius and Sagittarius in the South and passes overhead through the Summer Triangle https://earthsky.org/favorite-star-patterns/summer-triangle-asterism-vega-deneb-altair/ .
You can get more information here https://skyandtelescope.org/astronomy-news/observing-news/this-weeks-sky-at-a-glance-july-26-august-3-2/?utm_source=cc&utm_medium=newsletter .
A LOT of sunspots in this July 28th image taken with a Unistellar Odyssey Pro Smart Telescope with Sun Filter during a break in the clouds.
Greg Redfern
The Sun has been very active lately and several Coronal Mass Ejections https://spaceweather.com/archive.php?view=1&day=28&month=07&year=2024 are headed towards Earth with a predicted arrival on July 30th. This could create conditions favorable for Aurora. I will be monitoring National Oceanic And Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Space Weather Prediction Center https://www.swpc.noaa.gov/ and let you know if we need to be on the lookout.
At 2:46 pm EDT today NOAA just released its first Alert, Geomagnetic Storm Category G3 Predicted for July 30th. There will be more updates coming.
Enjoy!
Sky Guy in VA
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