What's in the night sky in the week of 10 to 16 July, 2023 in our weekly stargazing guide. The Pleiades return to the morning sky, while the Moon pairs up with Jupiter in this week’s stargazing guide.
Chris BramleyHello and welcome to Star Diary, the podcast from the makers of BBC Sky at Night Magazine. You can subscribe to the print edition of the magazine by visiting www.skyatnightmagazine.com or digital edition by visiting on iTunes or Google Play.
Ezzy PearsonGreetings listeners, and welcome to Star Diary. A weekly guide to the best things to see in the northern hemisphere's night sky. As we are based here in the UK, all times are in BST. In this episode, we'll be covering the coming week from 10 to 16 July. I'm Feature's Editor Ezzy Pearson and I'm joined this week by Reviews Editor Paul Money. Hello Paul.
Paul MoneyHello Ezzy. Oh, we're in for a busy week compared to last week, I can tell you.
Ezzy Oh. Cause we have had a quiet couple of weeks. So good to hear that there's a lot going on. Why don't you get us started?
Paul Okay, let's stick with our favourite duo, Mars and Venus in the evening sky. This is 10 July. Look over to the west northwest for the very bright star, which is Venus. Um, it'll be low down, so, and it is getting lower, so you really do need an uncluttered horizon. Otherwise it'll be completely blocked. The star is Venus, but it'll help guide you to Mars, which is to its upper left, but on 10th, Mars lies directly above Regulus. Now, they're in bright twilight. It is the light skies, so pair of binoculars should just pick them out and should just include Venus as well. 7x50s or 10x50 binoculars. You should be able to sweep them up. Now after this Regulus will definitely be lost to view as it drops down into the solar glare, but we will cling on to Mars and Venus for a little bit longer. They're determined to hold on, aren't they? They're not there.... "we're not going yet. You can't get rid of us just yet", sort of thing. "We're gonna hang on and keep your lives miserable for the next few weeks." Well, we'll see about that
EzzyI wouldn't say keep your lives miserable. It's always nice to try and see them. And perhaps when you are out in the pub after a night at work, you might see them in the night sky.
Paul In that case, you might also see 'em double. Moving quickly on from that 12 July. Now the Moon was at last quarter on 10th. Then on 11th it lies to the right of Jupiter and then to the left of the giant planet on 12th. So it'll be quite obvious. Um, and the number of times I get, people will drop me a message or they'll take a photograph and say, "what's see star next to the Moon, Paul."
"So I'm just saying that's no star, that's a planet." That's usually... it's either Venus or Jupiter to be fair. They're the ones that most people actually notice. You wanna be looking roughly east northeast, about 2:00 AM. So if you can't sleep and you've got a window that faces that way, that's an ideal situation sort of thing, you know, have a look and use binoculars. You should also be able to pick up fainter Uranus. Now Uranus is to the lower left of the Moon and Jupiter on 12th sort of thing. The interesting thing is that Jupiter, Uranus, and now the Pleiades star cluster, yes. The Pleiades that lie in Taurus, they're emerging outta the solar glare and should start to become easier.
To see. So yes, Uranus forms of apex of a shallow triangle between Jupiter and the Pleiades star cluster. I always think to, once we see them, I'm rubbing my hands. I know after the summer Solstice I rub my hands say, "yes, winter's on the way." 'Cause then things are gonna start drawing back in. And everybody thinks I'm really miserable, but especially as a lot of people are only just going on their summer holiday.
But for me, but for me, the other point is when you see the Pleiades, you know, at last, some good old faithfuls are heading back into the sky and will be visible. Hey, it won't be long before Orion's up. Stop living... wishing your life away. That'll be next month. We'll visit that in August. So look out for those planets we've got Jupiter and Uranus.
And I say Uranus will guide you also to the Pleiades. The Pleiades should be visible to the naked eye, but bear in mind, the skies are still light. 2:00 AM the skies are still light. We'll start noticing it getting darker, in the morning skies from now on., so we'll start to notice them actually drawing in.
So here we are sort of thing. I would just love to see the Pleiades because it's very... especially in the morning, twilight, they're just glittering there. Just hovering above the horizon sort of thing. And it's just as pretty, even though it's not dark, you know, it's just a pretty... it's just a welcome sight to see them.
EzzyI remember the first time I saw the Pleiades from a properly dark sky site. The sort where you can just see... like, look up in there, there and you can see the nebulosity and they're not just like a random patch of stars and it really is... They're very beautiful. Even more beautiful, if you whack a pair of binoculars or a telescope on them.
Paul They're breathtaking and you suddenly realise there's more than seven.
EzzyMm-hmm.
PaulA lot more than seven.
EzzyQuite a few.
PaulTechnically about 250 cluster members. There's quite a few.
EzzyThat sounds about right. There's the... well, it that sort of classic thing of test how good your eyes are, how many sisters can you actually see in the seven sisters? And, you know, some people can see two and other people can get all the way up to like 11.
PaulAsk Pete Lawrence. I know Pete has told me he's seen 18, I think it was. What?
EzzyYeah. That requires not just good eyesight but also a dark sky.
PaulExactly. And I have to say, since I wear spectacles now, I don't see as many. My maximum was 11. But nowadays... I have pushed to nine, but it has to be really good night.
As I say it has to be really dark, no moonlight whatsoever sort of thing. Talking of moonlight on 13th, again, look about two o'clock in the morning. The Moon will lie between Uranus and the Pleiades Star cluster itself as well. So another gorgeous site. And then you've got Jupiter off to the right as well.
So you've got a host of objects now to actually look at in the morning sky, and gotta remember that the Moon is gradually becoming more of a crescent. So that'll be more exciting. Now if you wait a bit longer, the next night, 14 July, leave it till 3:00 AM. The previous we've been talking about has been two o'clock in the morning.
Leave it another hour. Yes, the sky be getting lighter, but the rest of Taurus is nearly above the horizon. And this includes, of course, the Hyades star cluster and the bright star Aldebaran. And the thing about Aldebaran, is that it is another bright orange star sort of thing. And the Moon will be to the upper left of them on 14th as such. So you know Taurus is finally back. Oh, I'll be so excited to see that.
Right now, let's swap back to the evening Sky. I know, I know I've harped on about them so many times, but Venus and Mars... but wait, there's something else. It's really difficult. It'll be in very bright skies shortly after sunset, so make sure the Sun has set. But if you look towards the West Northwest horizon around 10:00 PM first of all, find Venus. Venus, you can't mistake, it will be low down. An uncluttered horizon is absolutely vital. Now, I can't emphasise that. Even trees will be a pain. If they're close... especially if they're closed too.
EzzyAbsolutely.
PaulGet Venus and the key is we'll have Regulus above left of it, but I think Regulus will be really difficult in the light skies. Mars will be the other side of Regulus and again, Regulus now will be forming a bit of a triangle with Mars and Venus, but Mars itself will be a lot fainter, a lot harder, as I say. But no, they're not the reason. That's not the reason. Look to the far right of Venus. Lower down, and you might catch a glimpse of Mercury. Now it is not a very good apparition. Summertime apparitions for Mercury in the evening are usually pretty poor. They're quite low. They set quite quickly. So the thing is here is you've gotta catch it before it's set. So 10 o'clock, literally within around about maximum 10, 15 minutes, most they'll have set. So you see how critical it is to get the timing right. So the key will also be if you can catch Venus as early as you can, and then start scanning to the right with binoculars as long as the Sun's set that's the absolute golden rule, as long as the Sun's set. And you should be able to sweep up Mercury as well. So it'll be a first view of Mercury in this evening apparition and this is 16 July, so around about 10 o'clock in the evening. I always like catching Mercury but I've got a lot of buildings, so I have not got an uncluttered horizon. I've got a cluttered horizon, very cluttered.
EzzyIt's definitely not one of the easier ones. Tends to be quite close to the... it's closer to the sun than Venus. It's not as bright as Venus.
PaulYou've got a lot against us, haven't we? But I like challenges.
Ezzy It's a challenge. Well, thank you very much, Paul, for taking us through those weeks' highlights. To summarise, on 10 July, you can use Venus to find Mars, which will be directly above Regulus in the evening twilight. On 12 July, the Moon will be close to Jupiter. On 13th at around 2:00 AM the Moon will be between Uranus and the Pleiades star cluster, both of which are just reemerging back into the morning skies. Then on 14th, the Moon passes by Aldebaran marking the return of Taurus. Keep an eye out for Earthshine on that one. Then on 16 July, you can see Mercury in the evening sky at around about 10:00 PM. That one will be quite a challenge. Make sure that the sun has fully set before you try and look for it and use Venus to help point your way. And if you want to keep up to date with more stargazing highlights for next week, do be sure to subscribe to the Star Diary podcast and we will see you then.
If you want to find out even more spectacular sites that will be gracing the night sky throughout the month, be sure to pick up a copy of BBC Sky at Night Magazine, where we have a 16 page pullout sky guide with a full overview of everything worth looking up for, whether you like to look at the Moon, the planets, or the deep sky, whether you use binoculars, telescopes or neither. Our Sky Guide has got you covered with the detailed star charts to help you track your way across the night sky. From all of us here at BBC Sky at Night Magazine, goodbye.
Chris Bramley Thank you for listening to this episode of Star Diary, the podcast from the makers of BBC Sky at Night magazine. For more of our podcasts, visit our website at www.skyatnightmagazine.com or head to aCast, iTunes or Spotify.
