Tonight: Mercury is 30° to the lower left of the star Aldebaran. Look for Mercury in the morning sky an hour before sunrise. Mercury will be very low in the ENE. The quick moving planet is 15° from the Sun and moving about a degree closer to it each day. Mercury will be at superior conjunction, behind the Sun, on the 29th of July. In the evening look for the Moon to the west (lower right) of Jupiter.
Categorized | Skynotes
Night Sky Note for July 16, 2008
Posted on 16 July 2008 · 276 views · 97 words.
This post was written by:
ttfnRob - who has written 557 posts on Orbiting Frog.
I am studying for my PhD in Astronomy at Cardiff University in the UK. Star formation is my main area of research but really I like anything to do with space, science and the internet.
3 Comments For This Post
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July 17th, 2008 at 2:29 am
I found your site looking for the name of the star to the LEFT of the moon. I’m at the beach with grandchildren and wonder what the name if that star is.
Thanks,
Betty
July 17th, 2008 at 10:58 am
Well to answer your question I would need to know the latitude, longitude and time of the event. The Moon actually moves quite quickly around the sky, and the stars appear move too, albeit more slowly. Also, an observer in one location would get a different view to that of a person elsewhere.
So if you have that info then I can answer your question. Was this a very bright star? In which direction were you looking?
July 17th, 2008 at 1:50 pm
Betty…I saw it too when I went outside last night and thought what the heck is that bright thing next to the moon…did a little research and found out that it’s Jupiter