July Skies 2026, and astrophiz podcast

To be read in conjunction with the astrophiz podcast #237

   

Eastern horizon on the morning of Saturday, July 4 as seen from Adelaide at 5:54 ACST (90 minutes before sunrise, click to embiggen).Mars is closest to Uranus and between the Hyades and Pleiades clusters. The inset shows the binocular view of Mars, Uranus and the Pleiades at this time.   Similar views will be seen from the rest of Australia at roughly the equivalent local time  (90 minutes before sunrise).	Eastern horizon on the morning of Wednesday, July 8 as seen from Adelaide at 5:54 ACST (90 minutes before sunrise, click to embiggen). Saturn and Mars form a long line in the twilight. Saturn is close to the waning Moon. Saturn is now high enough for telescopic observation, and its rings are widening. Mars is in between Pleiades and Hyades and forms a second eye for Taurus the Bull with Aldebaran.The inset shows the telescopic view of Saturn at this time. Similar views will be seen from the r est of Australia at roughly the equivalent local time  (90 minutes before sunrise).
Western sky on the evening of Thursday, July 9 as seen from Adelaide at 18:18 ACST (60 minutes after sunset, click to embiggen). Jupiter is coming close to the horizon. Venus is closest to the bright star Regulus (Alpha Leonis). Similar views will be seen from the rest of Australia at roughly the equivalent local time  (60 minutes after sunset).	Western sky on the evening of Friday, July 17 as seen from Adelaide at 18:22 ACST (60 minutes after sunset, click to embiggen). Venus, the thin crescent Moon and  the bright star Regulus (Alpha Leonis) form a line. Similar views will be seen from the rest of Australia at roughly the equivalent local time  (60 minutes after sunset).

Stars:

South-Eastern sky as seen from Adelaide at 18:51 ACST on July 15 (90 minutes after sunset, click to embiggen). Scorpius is high in the sky. The inset shows the binocular view of the “sting” in the scorpions tail, with Ptolemy’s cluster. Similar views will been seen elsewhere in Australia at the equivalent local time. (90 minutes after sunset)	Southern sky as seen from Adelaide at 18:51 ACST on July 15 (90 minutes after sunset, click to embiggen). The Southern Cross is at its highest. The inset shows the binocular view of the the Southern Pleiades around Theta θ Carina and the eta Carina nebula. Similar views will been seen elsewhere in Australia at the equivalent local time. (90 minutes after sunset)

Scorpius the scorpion, is well above the eastern horizon in the east when the sky is fully dark.  It is almost galaxy season, with Sagittarius, and the heart of the Milky way, rising.  By around 11 pm local time, Scorpius lies across the Zenth with Sagittarius and the heart of the galaxy beneath. 

The scorpion is an excellent binocular hunting ground now. Where the “sting of the tail begins to around is a star grouping dominated by zeta 1 and 2 Scorpii of the called the false comet, below the end of the sting is Ptolemy’s cluster and the Butterfly cluster, heading on westward towards the lid of the Teapot of Sagittarius in the Triffid nebula and then below that the Globular cluster M22. 

At around astronomical twilight (090 minutes after sunset when the sky is fully dark) the Southern Cross will almost be at its highest due south. To the right and a bit below alpha Crucis , almost half-way between the Southern cross and the false cross is theta carina, the brightest star in the Southern Pleiades. Just above that is the broad fuzzy patch that is the Carina Nebula, with variable star eta Carina (too dim to see) across this nebulosity is a dark band, the keyhole nebula best seen with binoculars or a small telescope. 

The position of the Southern Cross and the pointers makes Omega Centauri, a magnificent globular cluster, easy to find in the evening as it forms the apex of a triangle with the Beta Crucis  and Beta Centauri forming the base.

Meteors: Southern delta Aquariids:

The Southern Delta-Aquarids meteor shower runs from 12 July to 23rd August, peaking on Sunday 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. The ZHR for Southern Delta Aquariids is 25 meteors per hour. 

In practice, you will never see these many meteors as the radiant will be some distance below the zenith. Also, unless you are out deep in the countryside, the darkness will be less than ideal. This shower is fairly faint, with the highest rate of around a meteor every 4-5 minutes. 

Sadly, this year the full Moon is on the 30th, so there will be lots of moonlight interference. This shower is best seen from best seen from midnight to 3 am.