Preston: What's Up for July?
The Evening Star beckons and in search of the Milky Way.
Sunsets in July come with an added bonus,
a brilliant gem low in the western sky
calling to us to come and explore its many mysteries.
This is the planet Venus,
it's our cosmic next door neighbor,
that is, the planet with the closest orbit
to the orbit of Earth.
It's often thought of as Earth's sister planet,
given that it's also a rocky world of the same size,
though Venus developed into a hellishly hot world
where Earth became the cool blue planet we know and love.
Venus is sometimes referred to as the Morning Star
or the Evening Star,
depending on whether it's visible around sunrise or sunset.
This month, it's the latter,
as you'll find Venus appearing low in the west
in the half hour after sunset
together with a faint planet Mars.
In fact, you can watch each evening
as Venus and Mars get closer
culminating with a close conjunction on July 12th
when they'll be only a finger's width apart.
Look for them together with a slim crescent moon
that's only 10% illuminated.
In June, NASA announced that two new space missions
would be heading to Venus beginning later in the decade.
VERITAS and DAVINCI+
will investigate the planet's surface and atmosphere,
returning incredible images, maps, and other data,
likely rewriting our understanding
of how Earth's sister planet became so inhospitable,
along with how it might still be active today.
They'll be joined by the European spacecraft, EnVision,
for what's sure to be an exciting new chapter
in Solar System exploration.
[comet whooshing]
July is one of the best times of year
to enjoy the magical site that is the Milky Way.
This is our view of our spiral galaxy
seen edge-on from within.
Now, some part of the Milky Way
is visible in the night sky anytime of year,
but the galaxy's bright complex core
is only observable during certain months.
Earlier in the season,
you have to wait until the wee hours of the morning
for the core to rise in the sky.
But in June and July,
the core has already risen by the time it's fully dark
and can be seen fairly well until around 2:00 a.m.
when it starts to set.
Now, the Milky Way is faint, and to see it,
you'll need to find your way out to fairly dark skies.
But as long as you're below about 55 degrees north latitude,
you should be able to observe the Milky Way core.
Southern Hemisphere observers have it even better
as the core appears much higher overhead there.
One super important tip is to avoid the full moon
and the days close to it since a bright moon
overwhelms the faint glow of the Milky Way.
The three or four nights around the new moon are best,
but the week before and after is also okay.
You just have to note
when the moon will be rising or setting.
There are a variety of great apps and websites
to help you find dark skies
and figure out when and where to look.
So here's hoping you get out there
and experience one of the most fantastic sites
the night sky has to offer.
[comet whooshing]
Here are the phases of the moon for July.
You can catch up on all of NASA's missions
to explore the Solar System and beyond at nasa.gov.
I'm Preston Dyches from NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
And that's What's Up for this month.