The Last Minute Astronomer - July Episode

Hosted by Rob Webb. July’s fireworks include Saturn coming back around closer to being an evening planet, Mercury and Venus dancing low in the evenings, and some magic between the Moon and Spica.   1st - Waning Crescent Moon is just above Mars in the AM 3rd - Up and to the left of Jupiter in the AM 6th - Above Venus, to the left of Mercury, NNW just after sunset 7th - Above Mercury, NNW just after sunset 24th - To the right of Saturn, after 11pm, waning gibbous 25th - To the left of Saturn, after 11pm, waning gibbous 30th - Above Mars and Jupiter, ENE after 2am, waning crescent 31st - Left of Jupiter, ENE after 2am, waning crescent   July 13th – Lunar Occultation of Spica – Not so common to be able to see a star stop shining and then start back up again…sort of. Check https://is.gd/july2024spica for timings for your area, but the gist is that North and Central America, particularly on the Eastern side, will be able to watch Spica wink out as the dark side of the Moon crosses in front of it.  As an example, if you live near Harrisburg, PA, look WSW for the Moon after 11pm.  Right around 11:24pm Spica will disappear.  Unfortunately, this happens only about 10° above the horizon, leaving the reappearance invisible to us.  Reappearance will be visible before the Moon hits the horizon if you live approximately west of the Mississippi. Music was produced by Deep Sky Dude and used with permission.    We've added a new way to donate to 365 Days of Astronomy to support editing, hosting, and production costs.  Just visit: https://www.patreon.com/365DaysOfAstronomy and donate as much as you can! Share the podcast with your friends and send the Patreon link to them too!  Every bit helps! Thank you! ------------------------------------ Do go visit http://www.redbubble.com/people/CosmoQuestX/shop for cool Astronomy Cast and CosmoQuest t-shirts, coffee mugs and other awesomeness! http://cosmoquest.org/Donate This show is made possible through your donations.  Thank you! (Haven't donated? It's not too late! Just click!) ------------------------------------ The 365 Days of Astronomy Podcast is produced by the Planetary Science Institute. http://www.psi.edu Visit us on the web at 365DaysOfAstronomy.org or email us at [email protected].