The Moon works her way back into the evening sky this week. First
Quarter occurs on the 15th at 11:18 pm Eastern Daylight Time. Luna
wends her way through the springtime constellation in the western sky
as twilight deepens, passing a number of bright objects as she goes.
Her first target is bright Venus, which you'll find about seven
degrees north of the Moon on the evening of the 10th. The next evening
finds her six degrees south of the star Regulus in the constellation
of Leo, the Lion. On the 15th you'll see the bright star Spica just
over a degree to the northeast of the Moon's darklimb, and on the 16th
she passes just four degrees south of golden Saturn.
This is another good week to take afew moments each evening to explore
our only natural satellite. As her phase increases a steady stream of
interesting features are revealed by the advancing terminator line.
Many of us who grew up in the heyday of the "SpaceAge" will remember
the atmosphere of a July week in 1969 when the voyage of Apollo 11
began on the 16th. Since that time some 44 years ago my perception of
the Moon has been forever changed. Where once I saw a distant place
quivering in the eyepiece of a small telescope on a warm summer
evening I now see a destination thatwe have visited and touched with
our hands and minds. The Sea of Tranquility, the Fra Mauro highlands,
Hadley Rille, and the Taurus-Littrow valley are now almost as familiar
to me as my neighborhood, and I enjoy visiting them every month.
The sighting of the first lunar crescent should occur at dusk on the
9th. This event signals the beginning of the Islamic holy month of
Ramadan, which will last until thenext sighting of the crescent in
early August. The Islamic Calendar is a strictly lunar calendar
rigidly tied to the phases of the Moon. The12 lunar months fall some
11 days short of a mean solar year, so Islamic months regress through
the seasons over a 33-year period. Next year Ramadan will begin in
lateJune.
Bright Venus is slowly working her way eastward from the glare of the
Sun, but she is still only visible during evening twilight. She
actuallysets a bit earlier on successive evenings, but the Sun is also
setting earlier, so the net effect is that she seems to hold her own
against Old Sol. By early September she will finally set at the end of
evening twilight, and from then untilthe end of the year you'll have
the chance to see her against a dark sky. In the meantime, keep an eye
on her over the next two weeks as she closes in on the bright star
Regulus. On the evenings of the 21st and 22nd she'll pass just over a
degree north of the star.
Saturn pops into view west of the meridian as twilight fades about
half an hour after sunset. The ringed planet is still well-placed for
observation during the first couple of hours of darkness, but you'll
need to catch him in the eyepiece before he settles into the horizon
haze. Saturn's rings are generously tipped in our direction, so they
should be easy to see in small telescopes and binoculars, and the
shadow of the planet's disc falling on the rings gives Saturn a
three-dimensional appearance in modest scopes. As always, an increase
in aperture will show more detail. I recently upgraded the main
telescope at my home observatory from 8 inches to one of 9.25-inches
aperture, and the difference is quite remarkable!
For those of you vacationing away from the city lights, you still have
the late night and early morning hours to explore the glorious summer
Milky Way. Binoculars and alawn chair will provide you with all you
need to unlock the secrets of our galaxy's billowing star clouds.
Sweeping up from the southern horizon through the heart of the Summer
Triangle (made up by the bright stars Vega, Deneb, and Altair) you
will pass by dozens of bright knots of stars and glowing nebulae, all
set against a backdrop of millions of distant suns. The areabetween
Vega and Deneb is now of particular interest to astronomers. It is
this area which has been under constant scrutiny for the past several
years by NASA's Kepler space observatory. By "staring" at 145,000
stars in this part of the galaxy Kepler has confirmed the existence of
over 100 "exoplanets", with some 3000 more candidates awaiting further
analysis. You probably won't discover any new planets from your lawn
chair, but you'll certainly see alot of stars!
S$
--
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