Podcaster: Alice Enevoldsen aka Alice’s AstroInfo
Title: What’s Up Tonight! Southern Skies July 2015 Edition
Organization: Alice’s AstroInfo
Link : www.alicesastroinfo.com
Heavens-Above Starcharts for anywhere, anytime, not installation required
Stellarium Free planetarium-style program for your computer or tablet
7Timer – Clear sky charts (will it be clear enough for stargazing?). Input your location, then click on “ASTRO” in the pop-up.
Description: Presented as a counterpart to Awesome Astronomy’s Northern Hemisphere monthly forecast, Alice talks about what’s visible from the Southern Hemisphere. Focused at about 33°S, this forecast should work for anywhere between 25°S and 50°S
Bio: Alice Enevoldsen currently volunteers as one of NASA’s Solar System Ambassadors. She has been working in planetariums since 1996, has a B.A. in Astronomy-Geology from Whitman College, and a Masters in Teaching from Seattle University. Her fascination with the stars led her to try her hand at astronomy research in Boston and Walla Walla, where she realized that her calling in life was actually to work in outreach and be a translator for scientists. Now she works hard to share her love of the stars and excitement about astronomy with as many people as possible.
Today’s sponsor: This episode of “365 Days of Astronomy” is sponsored by — no one. We still need sponsors for many days in 2015, so please consider sponsoring a day or two. Just click on the “Donate” button on the lower left side of this webpage, or contact us at signup@365daysofastronomy.org.
Transcript:
Hello, I’m Alice Enevoldsen, coming to you not-so-live from Alice’s AstroInfo with a podcast about what’s up in the July 2015 skies … over the Southern Hemisphere.
How are you today?… Yeah? Well, keep on stargazing.
Starting with the Moon Phases, dates adjusted for Sydney, Australia.
So, coming up here is the last quarter moon on July 9th, visible in the early morning sky.
On the day of the new moon, July 16th, you won’t see the Moon at all, but a day before or after you might see a tiny sliver of a crescent Moon as the Sun rises or sets, and a few days outside of that the Moon will be up all day
The first quarter moon, July 24th, is ideal for late afternoon and early evening observation.
The next full moon will be July 31st. It rises around sunset, and sets around sunrise.
This is followed by another last quarter moon on August 7th.
Sky Objects and Events
Although Venus continues to be … well, I’ll say “blindingly bright” in the West, this is clearly the month for Pluto. Only those of you away from cities with large telescopes even have a chance at finding our dim neighbor, but the rest of us can cast our eyes towards the constellation Sagittarius, which is where Pluto is this month. You won’t see anything special there, but know that you’re looking in the right direction as NASA’s New Horizons mission flies by on the 14th.
If you’d like a visual experience related to Pluto, I recommend you participate in PlutoTime at http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/plutotime/. By entering your location you’ll find out what time of day you can go outside and experience how bright the sunlight is on Pluto at noon.
(Anyone who happens to be listening from Seattle, I’ll be hosting an event at High Point Branch Library in the evening on July 14th as well)
At the end of the month we have the Delta-Aquarids meteor shower peaking on July 29th. This shower is best seen from the Southern latitudes, and will likely be on the faint side.
We have a conjunction of Venus, Jupiter, and the Moon on July 18th-19th, with Venus and Jupiter passing even closer to each other on July 31st.
One last event to mention before we move on: in South Africa at the Museum of Military History will be SCOPEX 2015 on July 25th from 9am to 9pm. It’s an astronomy and amateur telescope-making extravaganza which will have a slew of astronomy-themed activities, vendors, and events. Check them out at http://www.scopex.co.za/ Hat-tip to Allen Versfeld on Twitter as @uastronomer for letting me know.
The Museum of Military History is in Erlswold Way in the northern Johannesburg suburb of Saxonwold adjacent to the Johannesburg Zoo and close to the recreational area of Zoo Lake.
Speaking of keeping our eyes peeled, it’s time for “Hey, what’s that?”
Venus. Unless it wasn’t. It could also be Jupiter, or directly overhead is Saturn. To the north we also have Arcturus, and, rising later just after Altair in the East, will be Vega.
You can download a nice starmap from the Sydney Observatory at http://www.sydneyobservatory.com.au/.
The lineup of early Evening Constellations gains Hercules, Aquila, Lyra, and Capricornus. There are plenty of beautiful chances to view the Milky Way and the interesting deep sky objects along in there.
If you have a Telescope or Bincoulars, I encourage you to check out M13 in Hercules.
Well! Thanks for tuning in: I hope I gave you some things for which to keep your eyes peeled.
For those of you who haven’t listened before, I’m here as a foil for Ralph and Paul with Awesome Astronomy and their monthly 365 Days of Astronomy, International Year of Light podcast about what’s up in the skies over the Northern Hemisphere.
This podcast is based at 33°S: times and dates are given for Sydney, Australia. Most information will be good anywhere from about 25°S to 50°S, though you may have to adjust the time zone. This will include major cities in Australia, New Zealand, countries in Africa south of Mozambique and Namibia, as well as the parts of South America south of Paraguay.
I’ll add some of my favorite planning links to the end of the transcript for you as usual. If you have suggestions, things that you’d like me to add to the “What’s up Tonight, Southern Skies Edition,” you can e-mail me from my website!
Once again, I’m Alice Enevoldsen. You can find me online as AlicesAstroInfo on Twitter, Facebook, and www.alicesastroinfo.com.
Bye! See you later!
Useful Links:
Heavens-Above Starcharts for anywhere, anytime, no installation required
Stellarium Free planetarium-style program for your computer or tablet
7Timer – Clear sky charts (will it be clear enough for stargazing?). Input your location, then click on “ASTRO” in the pop-up.
Monthly Sky Guides from Sydney Observatory
End of podcast:
365 Days of Astronomy
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