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Star Trak: July 2024
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. -- The shorter nights of summer will still offer a variety of sights for skywatchers.Mercury and Venus, the two innermost planets, will put on an evening show in July. Try to spot them soon after sunset.
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. -- The shorter nights of summer will still offer a variety of sights for skywatchers.Mercury and Venus, the two innermost planets, will put on an evening show in July. Try to spot them soon after sunset.
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. -- The pre-dawn June sky will show a string of six planets along the ecliptic. In order of increasing elongation from the sun, they will be Jupiter, Mercury, Uranus, Mars, Neptune, and Saturn. Several will be visible to the unaided eye, but Uranus and Neptune will both require binoculars to spot.
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. -- Saturn will be the first planet to appear in the predawn sky in May, rising before 4 a.m. for viewers in the Northern Hemisphere. It will climb higher before dawn as the month progresses. On May 1 it will stand 11 degrees high in the east an hour before sunrise, and this will increase to 26 degrees by month's end.
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – A total eclipse of the sun will be visible April 8 along a narrow path spanning North America from southwest to northeast. Most people across the United States will see a partial eclipse, but millions of observers will travel to see the spectacle of the sun's corona surrounding the black disk of the moon. Extensive information about events surrounding the eclipse can be found in the April 2024 issue of Astronomy magazine.
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. -- Jupiter will be a brilliant object high in the western sky in March. Early in the month it will be visible until nearly 11 p.m. local time. At month's end, however, it will be only 15 degrees above the western horizon at 9 p.m. local time and will set within about two hours.
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – Jupiter will be a stunning object 60 degrees high in the southern sky as February begins. Start your observing as evening twilight falls. The planet's four bright Galilean moons can be seen with any telescope and even with binoculars.
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. -- As the new year begins, Jupiter and Saturn will be visible most of the evening.Saturn will glow 30 degrees high in the southwestern sky an hour after sunset. View Saturn through a telescope early in the evening, before it gets too low. It will set by 9 p.m. local time on Jan. 1 and be gone before 7:30 p.m. on Jan. 31.
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. -- Saturn will be high in the southern sky as twilight falls in December. The ringed planet will be in the constellation Aquarius about 20 degrees above the bright star Fomalhaut. Saturn will set by 9 p.m. local time, so look for it early in the evening. Titan, the brightest of Saturn's moons, will be north of the planet on Dec. 12 and 28 and south of it on Dec. 4 and 20.
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. -- Saturn and Jupiter will highlight the evening sky during November. Saturn will lie in the south as the sky darkens. The yellow planet will be only 35 degrees high, so our atmosphere will affect the view.
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. -- Saturn will be well placed for viewing each evening in October, especially for observers with telescopes.
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. -- Saturn will be at its finest in early September, visible all night in the constellation Aquarius. The yellow planet will be low in the southeastern sky after sunset and will climb to its highest point in the south by midnight.
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. -- The annual Perseid meteor shower happens on warm summer nights, when gazing at the starry sky is always enjoyable. This year the Perseids will peak on the night of Aug. 12-13. The moon will be almost new, so moonlight will not interfere with observing meteors.