Title: July Skywatch Highlights
Location: Hawaiian Islands
Date / Time: July 2008
Comments: Perhaps the most exciting celestial event of the summer is the conjunction of Mars & Saturn in Leo. (See notes above). Watch nightly as Mars slowly catches up to Saturn (July 10th) and overtakes the orbit of slower moving Saturn. MARS will pass through Leo on the way to Virgo by month's end. This is the last month to view SATURN before it slips into the solar glare, to reappear in about 2 months in the morning sky. Brilliant JUPITER is in opposition now, which means it is on the opposite side of our sky from the Sun. The gas giant rises in the east as the Sun sets & appears at its biggest & brightest, dominating the sky all night long. Jupiter appears among the stars of eastern Sagittarius, near the handle of the "teapot" asterism. VENUS is slowly pulling away from the Sun & returning to the evening sky, though it will be difficult to spot until mid-month. Watch for Venus, (on the west-northwest horizon at sunset) to track through the Beehive star cluster in Cancer (M44) on July 18th, then cross into Leo on the 26th, when it will set 50 minutes after the Sun. MERCURY is visible in the morning sky in early July, rising around 4:30 AM in Taurus, the Bull. By mid-month, the innermost planet drops out of visibility as it moves back toward the Sun, to reappear in the evening sky in early September. Scorpius, the giant scorpion is easily recognizable, as a "J" or fish-hook shape, (Ka Makau Nui O Maui), in the southeast at sunset. Early in the month, you'll be able to see the Southern Cross viewable just after sunset, low on the southern horizon. The two bright stars above the southern horizon, Alpha & Beta Centauri, "point" to the Cross to their west. By mid-month, "Crux," (the proper name for this constellation), will be setting with the Sun. Hawaii is one of the few places where we can see all the way from the North Star, Polaris (Hokupa'a), to the Southern Cross, a Polynesian navigational "star line" called Ka Iwikuamo'o, "The Backbone." For further details and a July sky map, visit Bishop Museum Planetarium www.bishopmuseum.org/planetarium (bishopmuseum.org).

Maintained by Roz Reiner - Kauai, Hawaii

 

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