Skywatch July & August 2007
Looking toward the western horizon just after sunset may give you a glimpse of two planets, the one slightly higher and much brighter is Venus and lower and fainter is Saturn. They both will be setting very shortly after the Sun so they may be hard to see in the glare of sunset. Once the sky grows dark, look high in the southeastern sky and you will easily spot the largest of all the planets, Jupiter. Jupiter looks like a bright star-like object, somewhat yellowishwhite in color.
Just to the south of Jupiter is a bright red star, Antares, the heart of Scorpius, the Scorpion. The Scorpion is one of the few constellations, or star groups, that looks something like you think it should. Antares is the scorpion's heart and fainter stars stretching eastward form the scorpion's long curved tail.
According to legend, Orion was a mighty hunter. Orion boasted that he could defeat any animal on Earth in battle. Suddenly a scorpion appeared, stung Orion on the foot and Orion died. But, Orion was such a great hunter that he was placed in the sky; as was the scorpion. However, you never see Orion and the Scorpion in the sky at the same time.
Scorpius is one of the twelve star groups or constellations of the zodiac. The zodiac is a band of constellations which encircles the sky and it is to the zodiac that we must look to see the planets.
Another of the planets, Mars, will rise in the east around 2:00 a.m. Wait a few hours as dawn begins and this bright red planet will be easy to find in the eastern sky.
On July 1st the Earth will be at its farthest point from the Sun for all of 2007, some 94,508,000 miles (152,097,000km) distant. Since the Earth's path around the Sun is not a circle, but an ellipse (something like egg shaped), the Earth is closest to the in January and farthest in July.
On the night of August 12- 13 the Perseid meteor shower will reach its peak. In July 1862 a comet was seen for the first time and it was also named after its two discovers Swift and Tuttle. Every August the Earth passed through the debris left behind by this comet and we seen a shower of shooting stars. Shooting stars are not really stars at all, but the flashes of light caused by a pebble sized piece of matter burning up some 30 miles over your head. On any clear night you can see several shooting stars or meteors per hour. At the time of a meteor shower you can see many many more. The Perseid meteor shower which is produced by the debris from Comet Swift- Tuttle produces about 50 shooting stars per hour. The best time to look is between midnight and dawn.
There is a total eclipse of the Moon in the early morning hours of August 28th. Unfortunately, from the Virgin Islands the Moon will set before you can see the total eclipse.
