Particle.news
Download on the App Store
7 ARTICLES
·
last wk.

Messier 22 Lights July Sky as Earth Reaches Aphelion

Mercury’s peak evening appearance on July 4 marks the beginning of a season of striking lunar events.

The planet Mercury is visible as a bright point of light in the evening sky above the famous Danube River in this 2011 shot. Credit: H. Raab (Flickr, CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)
Image
Image
Image

Overview

  • Messier 22 climbs high in Sagittarius on July 1, presenting a brilliant globular cluster visible from mid-northern latitudes.
  • Earth reaches aphelion on July 3 at about 94.5 million miles from the sun, making the solar disk appear its smallest of the year.
  • Mercury attains greatest eastern elongation on July 4, rising roughly 11° above the northwestern horizon an hour after sunset and offering a clear crescent view.
  • July 10 brings the full Buck Moon peak, followed by Honolulu’s second Lāhainā Noon on July 15 when the sun passes directly overhead in the tropics.
  • Saturn enters retrograde just before July 16 during a Moon–Neptune alignment, and late-month skies feature the crescent moon meeting the Pleiades on July 20, pairing with Mars in Taurus on July 29, and the Delta Aquariids meteor shower peaking through July 30.