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Liverpool Astronomical Society News Page


Society News and Night Sky Notes - JULY 2001

Lasted updated July 16th 2001.



Society News Headlines


  • July - 1st Comet P/Kowal-Mrkos (2000 ET90) at perihelion.
  • July - 3rd Mars 6° South of Moon.
  • July - 4th Earth at Aphelion (1.017AU).
  • July - 5th Partial Lunar Eclipse.( Not Seen From UK).
  • July - 7th Neptune 3° North of Moon.
  • July - 7th Ceres at opposition (7.3 Mag).
  • July - 8th Uranus 3° North of Moon.
  • July - 9th Mercury 1.9° South of Jupiter.
  • July - 12th Planned launch of STS-104 Space Shuttle Atlantis on ISS mission 7A.
  • July - 12th Mercury greatest elongation - 21° West. Morning Sky.
  • July - 13th Saturn 3° North of Aldebaran.
  • July - 15th Venus 0.7° North of Saturn.
  • July - 17th Saturn 0.6° North of Moon.
  • July - 17th Venus 0.3° South of Moon.
  • July - 19th Comet Brooks II at perihelion (1.835AU).
  • July - 19th Happy Birthday Edward Pickering, born to-day in 1846.
  • July - 19th Jupiter 0.2° North of Moon.
  • July - 19th Mercury 1° South of Moon.
  • July - 19th Mars stationary.
  • July - 25th Anniversary (1976) of Viking 1 landing on Mars.
  • July - 26th Pallas stationary.
  • July - 26th 30th Anniversary (1971) of Apollo 15 launch (4th manned lunar landing).
  • July - 27th Mercury 6° South of Pollux.
  • July - 27th Sir George Biddell Airy's 200th Birthday (1801).
  • July - 29th South Delta-Aquarids meteor shower peak.
  • July - 30th Mars 6° South of Moon.
  • July - 30th Neptune at opposition.
  • July . - TBC BAA Exhibition Meeting at London Guildhall University.

    • THE NIGHT SKY DURING THE MONTH OF JULY 2001

    Will it be cloudy to-night?, ask the The U.K. Goverment Met Office Weather service.
    To make your own star chart fo your location at any time, Click Here.


    and

    The Sun and Moon


    All times are in BRITISH SUMMER TIME (BST). Times For Observer in Liverpool, Merseyside, England, U.K.

    Latitude 53 degs 24 mins North.
    Longitude +3.0 degs West.

    
           June 30th    July 5th     10th       15th       20th        23rd      29th
SUNRISE    04:47        04:51       04:06      05:01      05:08       05:16     05:24
SUNSET     21:44        21:42       21:38      21:34      21:28       21:20     21:12

    PHASES OF THE MOON DURING JULY 2001
    NEW MOON

    on the 20th
    at 20h:45m     		FIRST QUARTER

    on the 27th
    at 11h:09m     		FULL MOON

    on the 5th
    at 16h:05m     		LAST QUARTER

    on the 13th
    at 19h:46m

    On the 4th the Earth is at aphelion - the furthest distance from the Sun in its orbit - at a distance of 1.016643 Astronomical Units (1AU = 149.6km).


    planets THE PLANETS THIS MONTH.

    mercury MERCURY.

    Mercury is at greatest Western elongation on the 9th and is therefore a morning object. However, the angle of its orbit with respect to the horizon is acute and the apparition is not a good one this month. This TABLE. however will show how you can use Venus, Jupiter, and Saturn as well as the Moon as pointers but you will need a clear, flat horizon such as the sea to have any success. This is the big challenge this month.

    venus VENUS.


    Venus is rising three before the sun, and is quite a beacon in the eastern sky and throughout this month and the next Juipter and Saturn pay close calls, saturn lying 43' to the north on the 16th. The stars of Taurus and Orion are in attendance with the Pleiades star cluster lying directly above Venus on the 10th. On the 17th the Moon passes 39' south of Venus at 09h.

    mars MARS.


    Mars is still well placed for observation after last month's opposition. Later this month Mars halts its retrograde motion and moves est again. On the 30th at 16h the Moon and Mars passes 39' south of Venus at 09hr.

    ASTEROIDS.


  • Ceres at opposition on 1st in the constellation of Ophiuchus. However, it cannot be seen with the unaided eye although photographs will reveal its presence.

    For More information on Asteroids Click Here.

    JUPITER.


    Jupiter is starting to recover from last month's solar conjunction and will quickly become visible in the morning sky, heading towards Venus.

    Launched in October 1989, the Galileo Jupiter Probe entered orbit around the great planet on December 7th 1995. The Project Galileo Homepage will give you up-to-date information and the very latest images returned.

    SATURN.


    Saturn, lying to the west of Jupiter passes 43' north of Venus on the 16th.

    URANUS and neptune NEPTUNE.


    Uranus at Mag 5.7, having overtaken slower moving Neptune some years ago now, heads slowly towards the stars within the constellation of Capricornusas seen from Earth.

    Neptune, lies in the constellation of Capricornus and is at opposition this month on the 30th at mag 7.9

     
Uranus Positions for the 1st July:

                          R.A.                   DEC                    TRANSIT TIME           MAG
                      21h:47m:57s           -14°:04':57"                   03h:21m             5.7

    

    
Neptune Positions for the 1st July:

    


                          R.A.                   DEC                    TRANSIT TIME           MAG
                      20h:42m:06s           -18°:05':19"                   02h:15m             7.9

    PLUTO.


    Pluto can be found inOphiuchus, roughly between the 4th stars Zeta Ophiuchi and 20 Ophiuchi. The best time to look for the planet is around New Moon. The dates below will be a guide for planning observations.

     Positions for July 2001 are when pluto's elongation angle is greater than 90°.

    
DATE                      R.A.                   DEC                   TRANSIT TIME

July  10th              16h:51m:46s            -11°:49':41"                 22h:50m

July  20th              16h:50m:44s            -11°:51':35"                 22h:10m

July  30th              16h:50m:08s            -11°:54':09"                 21h:30m

    Pluto is best seen between July 13th - July 27th


    METEORS.


  • Alpha-Cygnids on July 21st (5 per hour) Favourable Moon is new.
  • Capricornids on July 8th/15th and 26th Multiple radiant- (6 per hour):
      8th - Unfavourable/MOON near Full.
      15th - Quite Favourable/MOON 13 days old.
      26th - Favourable/MOON 23 days old.
  • Delta-Aquarids on July 28th:
      (20 per hour on 28th) Quite Favourable/MOON 25 days old. (From South)


    • comets COMETS.


  • Comet P/Kowal-Mrkos (200 ET90) at Perihelion on July 1st at (2.454 AU).
  • Comet Brooks II at Perihelion on July 19th at (1.835 AU)

    Plus these pages will give daily and weekly reports of this and other Comets progress.

  • BAA Comet Section Home Page
  • Comet Web Sites.
  • NASA/JPL Comet Observations Home Page.
  • The Astronomer Comet Page.


    • occulationsOCCULATIONS.

  • THERE ARE NO OCCULTATIONS OF BRIGHT STARS THIS MONTH AS SEEN FROM LIVERPOOL.


    June 2001 News and Sky Notes.

    August 2001 News and Sky Notes.


    These pages are maintained by Gerard Gilligan.
    EMail: ggastro@liverpool.ac.uk.

    Return to the The Liverpool Astronomical Society Home Page.

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