What’s In July’s Skies

By Matt Woods

Planets:

Mercury will be viewable for the first few days of July, very low on the horizon in the constellation of Taurus (The Bull) before disappearing into the sun’s glare. It will return later in the month in the constellation Leo (The Lion) for the last three days low in the evening sky. Venus can be found low in the constellation of Taurus until the middle of the month, when it moves through the constellation of Orion (The Hunter) and into the constellation of Gemini (The Twins).

Mars is viewable in the early morning, and it’ll move from the constellation of Pisces (The Fish) to the constellation of Aries (The Ram) at the beginning of the second week of July. Jupiter will be in the constellation of Cetus (The Sea Monster) throughout July, rising around Midnight. Saturn can still be found late in the evening throughout July in between the constellations of Capricornus (The Sea Goat) and Aquarius (The Water Bearer).

Uranus is rising in the early morning in between the constellations of Aries and Taurus. At the very end of July, it will be awfully close to Mars. Neptune is just above Jupiter, close to the more northern than fish of the cancellation of Pisces. It’s rising before midnight throughout July.

All the planets in alignment on the 01/07/22 at 6:15 am (AWST)

The Delta Aquarids Meteor Shower:

The Delta Aquarids meteor shower are due to peak on the night of the 28th/29th of July and they’ll favour southern hemisphere observers, which includes observers in Perth. The shower is active from the 12th of July to the 23rd of August, and they can vary in their hourly rate each year between 10 to 20 meteors per hour. In 2022, we have a New Moon, so we won’t have to deal with any light pollution from it.

The apparent radiant for the Delta Aquarids is in the constellation of Aquarius, and it can be viewable from 08:00 pm (AWST) on the 28th, but it’ll be best to wait until around 03:00 am on the 29th . The source of the Delta Aquariids is believed to be 96P/Machholz 1 comet which was part of the unnamed ancient stream of Kreutz Sungrazing comets

Delta Aquarids on the 29/07/22 at 3 am (AWST)

Celestial Wonder To Look At This Month:

The star DY Crucis:

The star DY Crucis is a carbon star very close to Mimosa (Beta Crucis) and is 4,077 light-years away from Earth. A carbon star is a giant star in a late phase of evolution. It’s similar to a red giant, but its atmosphere contains more carbon than oxygen. They tend to be variable stars, increasing and decreasing their size and variability over time.

DY Crucis colour is a striking cherry red colour due to the carbon which reflects and scatters blue light, but allows red light to filter through, like what happens at sunset. It’s surface temperature also plays a role, DY Crucis’s surface temperature is below 3,500 Kelvin, so it’s a cool star and would appear a shade of red. To put this in context, the temperature of our Sun is about 5,778 Kelvin.

The DY Crucis on the 15/07/22 at 9 pm (AWST)

Image Credit: Sebastion on Astrobin

DY Crucis

A Carbon Star

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