Summer Night Sky

Summer is one of the most exciting times to view the night sky! The Milky Way shines brightly overhead if you travel out of town and away from light pollution. There are many bright and easily recognizable constellations, much more so than in the Springtime. It’s also easier to stay out at night now that it’s warm, although the sun also blocks out the stars for longer hours. To view the night sky from your location, you can use a computer-based planetarium software, like Stellarium!  Check out a few of the exciting things going on this summer!

July 5: Happy Aphelion Day!

July 5 is the furthest that the Earth gets from the sun, at 94.5 million miles. The Earth’s orbit around the sun isn’t quite a perfect circle- we are closest to the Sun in January and furthest in July. If this seems backwards, remember that seasons are caused by the tilt of our planet making the sun lower in the sky and days shorter in the winter, while the sun gets higher and lasts longer in the summer. The difference in distance as it orbits only affects the amount of sunlight we receive by a few percent.

July 13: Venus-Mars Conjunction

If someone looks toward the West this summer and asks what that super bright star is, it’s probably not a star at all, but instead the planet Venus! Venus was hidden behind the light of the sun for most of the spring, but is gradually getting higher and brighter in the evening sky. On July 13, it will pass very close to what appears as a tiny red dot- Mars! Through a telescope, neither will look very exciting yet, though Venus will get brighter and look more exciting this Fall. Earth is travelling faster than Mars and is leaving it behind, while Venus is doing the same to Earth.  Earth, Venus, and Mars happen to form a line that makes it appear that they’re closer together from our point of view.  Really, Venus is only about half of Mars’ distance! This is much easier to visualize when you can move the planets yourself- if you want to learn more about how the planets move, try downloading NASA’s Eyes on the Solar System- a free app that lets you explore every known comet, asteroid, planet, and spacecraft! 

August 2: Saturn Opposition

 This is the time of year to see Saturn! “Opposition” means that Saturn is opposite the Sun in the sky, so you’ll be able to see it all night long. It will rise around sunset and set at sunrise, so the best time to view it is the middle of the night, around 1 AM. If you don’t want to stay up that late, just wait a few weeks- it will appear higher and higher in the sky by sunset and will be visible all the way through Fall, and honestly it doesn’t look too much smaller even by October.  Even a small telescope will show rings.

August 11-13: Perseid Meteor Shower

 This is the best meteor shower of the year, with may bright, fast shooting stars visible. This year, the moon should be out of the way as well.  You don’t need any equipment- just a comfy lawn chair and a dark sky! A few tips:

• Don’t just check on August 12! If it’s cloudy on the best nights, you’re not out of luck. The Perseids last for weeks on either side of the peak.

• Get comfortable! Meteor showers can come in spurts, so get a comfy reclining chair and

• Put your phone away! Your eyes can take a long time to adjust to the dark, so don’t stare at any bright lights, such as your phone. If you need a flashlight, try finding a red light or using red plastic wrap over a normal one. Red doesn’t ruin your night vision like other colors.

On a good, peak night, you may spot up to one or two shooting stars per minute!

August 19: Jupiter Opposition

Jupiter and Saturn are very close together in the sky this year. This means that you get two of the best planets at the same time! Jupiter’s bands may be hard to see through a small telescope, but the moons are visible even through binoculars! If you check back every night, the moons will be in a different spot, and sometimes they’re even hidden behind Jupiter. If you’re really lucky, you might even see a dark splotch on Jupiter- the shadow of a moon as it eclipses the Sun as seen from Jupiter.

Want to learn more about space? Check out some of our “out of this world” science activities over at our Virtual Science Festival!