This Week’s Sky at a Glance, 2024 July 13 – July 20
This Week’s Sky at a Glance, 2024 July 13 – July 20
Constellations are not the only stellar figures in the night sky. Any imaginative figure seen that is not one of the 88 constellations is called an asterism. The Big Dipper in Ursa Major and the Sagittarius Teapot are two of the most prominent. Others require binoculars or a telescope, such as the Coathanger and ET star clusters. Near the eastern shoulder of Ophiuchus binoculars will show a large V shape resembling the Hyades cluster, and star maps of a few centuries ago labelled this as the constellation Poniatowski’s Bull. One I read about in Sky & Telescope magazine a few years ago is a smiley face in Cygnus the Swan. Scan with binoculars just below the swan’s right (western) wing near the brightest star in that wing, and look for a pair of eyes above a semicircular grin of five stars. You will probably smile back.
This summer, spend some time scanning the night sky randomly and let your imagination run wild. Pareidolia is a phenomenon in which your mind sees a familiar pattern where none exists. Just as we imagine figures in clouds by day, we can imagine them in the stars at night.
This Week in the Solar System
Saturday’s sunrise is at 5:49 and sunset will occur at 9:10, giving 15 hours, 21 minutes of daylight. Next Saturday the Sun will rise at 5:56 and set at 9:04, giving 15 hours, 8 minutes of daylight.
The first quarter Moon approaches Spica in Virgo Saturday evening, setting around the time it occults that star. It is near Antares in Scorpius on Wednesday. By midweek Venus sets 40 minutes after sunset, followed by Mercury half an hour later, and both could be a fairly easy target with binoculars. Saturn rises before midnight this week and telescope users will notice that its rings are at a much shallower angle than in recent years. Mars and Jupiter, along with Aldebaran, the Hyades and the Pleiades, make a beautiful scene low in the east that is worth rolling out of bed before 4:30. This scene only gets better over the month.
On Sunday evening at 8 pm tune in to the Sunday Night Astronomy Show via the Facebook page or YouTube channel of Astronomy by the Bay.