Monday 22nd to Sunday 28th July 2024
Last week I was encouraging everyone to get up very early to observe some planets. Let's counter that with a late evening observing opportunity instead.
On Wednesday 24th, if you look towards the east south east from around 11pm, an 83%-lit waning gibbous Moon will be rising above the horizon. We will have had a full Moon on 21st, so it is referred to as being "waning" because the phases are now heading towards a New Moon at the beginning of August. The term "gibbous" is derived from the Latin word meaning "humped" and in old English it is used to describe a convex shape.
A little above and to the right of the Moon, you will find Saturn shining at a magnitude of around +0.7 so easy to spot without a telescope.
Of course, if you have brought your telescope outside, you could have a go a trying to see the rings of dust that surround Saturn. This will be difficult as the rings currently appear to be "end-on" to us and so very thin. You should be able to make out some of Saturn's many moons though, like Titan and Enceladus.
Because of the way the Moon orbits around us, if you went back outside at 11pm on Saturday 27th, it would not be there! You would have to wait until around 1am on the Sunday morning to see it rise above the horizon and this time the Moon would be towards the east north east. The phase will no longer be gibbous and you will now see what looks like a quarter Moon.
www.starsoversomerset.com
Screenshots courtesy of Stellarium
Copyright Adrian Dening and Radio Ninesprings 2024
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