Nan at Night by Nancy Hoyt
-Thursday the 16th: Lupus, the celestial wolf, leaps low across the southwest on July evenings. You need dark skies and a clear horizon to find him. The constellation is low in the south-southwest at nightfall, beneath the more prominent constellation Scorpius.
-Friday the 17th: Look for the Moon in the east at first light. Venus, the brilliant “morning star,” is well below it. Orange Mars is a little to the right of the Moon, with the orange star Aldebaran to the right of Venus.
-Saturday the 18th: The Moon anchors a beautiful display tomorrow morning. Venus, the brilliant “morning star,” is to the right of the Moon. The true star Aldebaran is about the same distance to the right of Venus, with Mars directly above Aldebaran. Mars and Aldebaran are both orange, and they are about the same brightness, so they form an eye-catching pair.
-Sunday the 19th: Pearly streamers of cloud sometimes streak the sky on summer nights. They are called “noctilucent” because they glow only at night. They are clouds of cosmic dust about 50 miles above the surface. They generally appear at high northern latitudes, but in recent years have been migrating farther south.
-Monday the 20th: The faint constellation Camelopardalis, the giraffe, is quite low in the north after nightfall. Even its brightest stars are so faint that you need to get away from city lights to see them. Forty years ago today on July 20, 1969, astronauts Neil Armstrong and Edwin Aldrin took the first steps on the Moon when Apollo 11 landed in the Sea of Tranquility. They made one moonwalk before rejoining crewmate Michael Collins for the trip home.
-Tuesday the 21st: The Moon reaches its “new phase at 7:53 p.m. When new, the Moon crosses the imaginary line between Earth and Sun. Many societies have viewed the new moon as a time of rebirth or renewal. (I’m doing a Star Show at Twain Harte Lake this evening around dusk, come join us!)
-Wednesday the 22nd: A total solar eclipse is visible across parts of Asia and the Pacific. Unfortunately, it loses contact and moves off into space over the central Pacific and we will not be able to view this spectacular event.
-Thursday the 23rd: This is a spectacular time to view the Milky Way, the faint band of light that outlines the disk of our home galaxy. Make sure you are far away from any light pollution!
This week a celestial phenomenon occurs on our planet Earth; a total solar eclipse. A solar eclipse happens when the Moon’s shadow blocks the Sun from view across a narrow strip of Earth’s surface. A “total” solar eclipse occurs when the Sun is completely immersed in the shadow of the Moon. This spectacle will be visible along a narrow strip of the Earth’s surface beginning in India, sweeping across China and into the Pacific south of Japan. It continues eastward but loses contact across the central Pacific, before it reaches us. People in Hawaii will see a brief partial eclipse in late afternoon, but the rest of us will have to watch it on the internet or T.V. There are many people who follow eclipses around the globe. You can rest assured that hundreds (thousands?) of eclipse chasers will be in the exact path of the eclipse. These events are predictable and you can plan ahead to be a witness to this eerie event. In fact, there are tour companies who specialize in eclipse viewing! The next total solar eclipse to cross the United States will occur on August 21, 2017. It will make landfall in Oregon and continue across the states. So, if you like to plan ahead, this is your opportunity to participate in a spectacular celestial event!
