Junction News July is the hottest month in the year. It is the month with the highest average temperature, and it is also the most suitable month for stargazing. Looking up at the sky late at night, the visibility of the stars is very clear. So which stars are worth seeing in July? He Jun from the Nanjing Astronomy Enthusiasts Association was interviewed by a reporter from Xinhua Daily·Junction Point.
"The weather has been very hot recently. Many people mistakenly believe that the high temperature is due to the close distance to the sun. In fact, at 15:11 on July 4, the earth passed the aphelion of its orbit, which is the smallest solar surface visually." He Jun First of all, it is popular science that temperature has nothing to do with the distance between the earth and the sun.
On the planets, Mercury is not visible this month. "Venus, Mars, Jupiter are all visible in the east before sunrise. At the beginning of this month, the beautiful Saturn rose from the eastern horizon at about 10 pm. After early morning, the height of the horizon becomes larger, so it is best to observe in the middle of the night. (To observe the halo, a small astronomical telescope is sufficient.) "He Jun said that Uranus and Neptune are invisible to the naked eye, and they can also be seen in the east before sunrise through larger telescopes.
The special celestial phenomena this month will appear tonight (July 3). They are the conjunction of Regulus and Regulus. Regulus and Regulus are both bright stars in Leo . Regulus is in the middle of the interrogative mark of Leo, which is the neck of the lion. Regulus is the front paw of a lion. These two stars sandwich the moon, which slowly sets over the horizon from the west in the evening. It can be viewed with the naked eye. Through the Moon we can locate Leo and try to identify the two stars of Leo.
html At 1:49 a.m. on July 8, Ganymede ( Ganymede) moved into the shadow of Jupiter, forming an "eclipse" phenomenon. Ganymede disappeared until the eclipse ended at 04:56. Wei San is seen by us again. At the beginning of the eclipse, the visual magnitude of and rapidly dimmed from magnitude 5.0 to magnitude 18.0. Ordinary astronomy enthusiasts can use small astronomical telescopes to track and observe Ganymede and watch the disappearance of Ganymede. It is best to advance the observation time to 1:45. After it disappears, the observation can be canceled. Those who are interested can do so at 4:56 See Ganymede appear before. Ganymede is the largest satellite in the solar system, even larger than the planet Mercury. Gander, an astronomer during the Warring States Period , may have discovered it with the naked eye more than 2,000 years ago ("Tang Kaiyuan Divination " quoted Gander saying about Jupiter "if there is a small red star attached to its side") "). htmlOn July 14th, the largest full moon of the year appeared. He Jun introduced that the largest full moon of the year occurred at 2:38 am on the 14th. At this time, the distance between the earth and the moon is 357,418 kilometers. For comparison, the average distance between the earth and the moon is 380,000 kilometers, and the farthest is about 400,000 kilometers. In fact, for the majority of enthusiasts, observation and photography can begin after the moon rises on the evening of the 13th. If you use the same equipment to photograph the moon, you will find that the difference in apparent diameter compared to the smallest moon on January 18 will not be too obvious with the naked eye. The moon began to occult Mars at 0:46 a.m. on July 22, but it was only visible in parts of northeastern my country, and only Mars combined with the moon could be seen in Jiangsu. There are also a few meteor showers with low traffic this month, including the Pisces meteor shower and the Draconid meteor shower on the 28th, as well as the ΔAquarid meteor shower on the 30th. The maximum estimates of Pisces Australis and Draconis are only 5 stars/hour at the zenith, so the observation is of little significance. Aquarius is expected to be at the zenith of 25 stars/hour, and the 30th is the second day of the lunar calendar with almost no moonlight interference. If you are interested, you can try to observe it. He Jun said that due to various influences, the number of observable meteors will be greatly reduced. If you are an inexperienced general public, you can give up on this month's meteor shower. It should be noted that observing meteor showers does not require any equipment. You only need to find a relatively dark environment and observe with the naked eye. When shooting, you can use wide-angle lens .
In addition, July 20th is the anniversary of the moon landing. On July 20, 1969, American astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin landed in the Sea of Tranquility on the moon aboard the Apollo 11 lunar landing spacecraft. Michael Collins supported the lunar landing mission in the command module. During the lunar landing, he was the loneliest human being in the world.
Xinhua Daily·Junction Point Reporter Zhang Xuan
