Sunday, July 11
Once you’ve finished chasing the giant planets into the early-morning sky, turn your gaze east to spot Comet 4P/Faye, currently sharing the constellation Aries with Uranus. Faye’s 10th-magnitude glow is easy to spot through a 4-inch scope from a dark location. Larger apertures may even show the comet’s small, stubby tail, which extends to the north.
Faye currently sits well below the two brightest stars in Aries; you’ll find it at roughly the height of magnitude 5.7 Mu (ÎĽ) Arietis, although the comet sits about 6.1° southwest of the star. Just over 5° east of Faye is magnitude 5.8 Uranus, easy to catch in binoculars or a small scope. The distant ice giant, which spans 4″, is less than 0.5° from Omicron (Îż) Arietis, which shines at the same magnitude.
Faye will glide past Uranus from July 18–19, so you’ll want to return to this region then to catch the close pass.
Sunrise: 5:41 A.M.
Sunset: 8:30 P.M.
Moonrise: 6:58 A.M.
Moonset: 10:05 P.M.
Moon Phase: Waxing crescent (3%)
Monday, July 12
Tomorrow morning brings us a close conjunction of Venus and Mars. But first, the Moon mingles with our neighboring planets, as our satellite passes 3° north of Venus at 5 A.M. EDT and 4° north of Mars at 6 A.M. EDT. The trio isn’t visible then, but you can catch them in the west shortly after sunset. The planetary pair is now 7.3° west of the thin crescent Moon. Venus is magnitude –3.9 and lies due north (to the upper right) of Mars, which glows at magnitude 1.8 — 190x fainter than Venus.
All three lie in Leo the Lion, northwest of the big cat’s brightest star, Regulus. Mars and Venus are about 33′ apart. The moment the pair comes closest — 30′ or 0.5° — occurs early tomorrow morning at 3 A.M. EDT, when the planets are again invisible for U.S. observers. Tomorrow night, they’ll once more sit about 33′ apart, so if you aren’t able to catch them this evening, try again tomorrow for a similar view.
Mars reaches aphelion — the farthest point from the Sun in its orbit — tonight at 8 P.M. EDT. At that time, the Red Planet will sit 154.9 million miles (249.3 million kilometers) from the Sun.
Sunrise: 5:42 A.M.
Sunset: 8:29 P.M.
Moonrise: 8:03 A.M.
Moonset: 10:39 P.M.
Moon Phase: Waxing crescent (7%)
Tuesday, July 13
Venus passes 0.5° north of Mars at 3 A.M. EDT this morning in a close conjunction. But the pair isn’t visible at that time; you’ll instead want to catch them at sunset, when they’re about 33′ apart and about 11° high half an hour after the Sun disappears below the horizon. Venus will now appear directly above (northeast of) Mars, and both will be easy to spot with the naked eye as twilight descends. They’ll also be visible in any pair of binoculars or telescope with a field of view greater than about 0.5°.
The Moon, now a slightly larger crescent, is farther from the planets — 19° east — and closer to Leo’s hindquarters and tail, marked by a right triangle formed from the three stars Chertan, Zosma, and Denebola.
Sunrise: 5:43 A.M.
Sunset: 8:29 P.M.
Moonrise: 9:09 A.M.
Moonset: 11:10 P.M.
Moon Phase: Waxing crescent (14%)
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