by The new moon of July 2024 occurs today when the Earth reaches its farthest point from the sun, known as aphelion.
The new moon arrives on July 5 at 6:57 Eastern Time (2257 UTC), according to the US Naval Observatory, and two days later the young moon will make a close pass to Mercury in the evening sky.
The Earth reached aphelion today, meaning that our part was further away from the sun than at any other time in its annual orbit. The Earth’s orbit around the sun is slightly elliptical, or oval, which means that our distance from our star can change by up to 3% during the year. This small change is not significant enough to be noticed by most observers.
New moons occur when the moon is directly between the sun and the Earth; in many lunar calendar systems they mark the beginning of the lunar month. Technically, the sun and the moon are in conjunction, on the same north-south line that passes through the celestial pole. The timing of the moon phases is measured by where the moon is relative to the Earth, so a particular phase occurs at the same time around the world. There are only differences due to the time zone one is in – in Melbourne, Australia, for example, the new moon occurs at 8:57 am on July 6th.
New moons are invisible unless there is an eclipse; eclipses do not occur every new moon because the orbits of the moon and the Earth are not perfectly aligned; they are tilted relative to each other by about 5 degrees. Then the moon’s shadow “misses” the Earth most of the time. (The next solar eclipse is not until October 2, 2024).
Close passage for Mercury
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In the evening hours of July 7, the moon will pass over Mercury as it moves out of the new phase; The thin crescent will be divided 3 degrees north of Mercury at 2:33 Eastern time, according to skywatching site In-the-Sky.org. At sunset, when the moon is visible, it will be about 16 degrees above the horizon; Mercury will be below the moon. But the planet won’t really be visible at all until around 9 pm (sunset that day is at around 8:29pm. in New York; There are similar times in cities like Chicago or Sacramento) and by that time it will only be 8 degrees high, so from anywhere in the mid-northern latitudes the link will be a challenge to see – the horizon will be flat, unobstructed and clear required. .
The connection is easier to observe as one moves closer to the equator. From a lower latitude (north or south) the ecliptic, or plane of the Earth’s orbit projected onto the sky, makes a steeper angle with the horizon. That means that planets, which all move within a few degrees of the ecliptic, will reach higher altitudes. (This is also why tropical sunsets seem so short, but sunsets in northern and southern latitudes appear to be higher – in the tropics the Sun approaches the horizon almost straight down, but in regions north or south it approaches a smoother slope) .
From Miami the conjunction will take place at 2:33 pm local time but both the moon and Mercury will be higher in the sky; the the sun sets at 8:16pm local time and at that point the moon is 20 degrees high and Mercury 18 degrees above the western horizon. By about 8:30 pm Mercury should be just visible and still about 12 degrees high, so with a clear sky without any obstructions one should be able to catch it.
From Bridgetown, Barbados (and similar latitudes) the moon will appear south of Mercury, and at sunset, at 7:29 pm local timethe full moon is 18 degrees high in the west, by 7 pm it is still 14 degrees above the horizon, as is Mercury, and both will be more visible than from the continental US
In the Western Hemisphere the conjunction itself occurs in the afternoon, in daylight, but as one moves eastward the moment of conjunction moves into the evening. From Madrid, Spain, the observational challenges are similar to those in New York (both cities are at nearly the same latitude) but the conjunction occurs at 8:33 pm local time.
In the Southern Hemisphere, it’s a little easier to observe – the days are shorter because it’s the Australian winter. In São Paolo, the sun sets at 5:22 pm local time, and although the conjunction occurs at 3:33 pm, still during the day, at sunset the moon will be 18 degrees high in the northwest, and Mercury will be seen above and to the left of the moon. Mercury will not be visible until about 6 pm and will still be about 12 and a half degrees high. In Cape Town, where the merger takes place at 8:33 pm local time – sunset is at 5:51pm and the moon and Mercury set at 7:34 pm; about half an hour after sunset the pair is about 13 degrees high in the northwest.
Visible planets
Venus will be emerging in the evening sky, but will still be largely lost in the sun’s glare; although it appears a little higher in the sky at sunset as one approaches the equator it is not more than five or six degrees higher as the sky begins to darken.
Saturn will be the first planet to rise, at 11:40 pm on July 5 in New York City. In the constellation Aquarius, which is a smaller group of stars than many, it will be quite diverse in its sky region. As the sky begins to lighten around 4:30 to 5:00 am (the morning of July 6) it will be about 41 degrees above the south-southeast horizon.
Mars will be visible in the early hours of the morning; as the year progresses it rises later and the planet will eventually be lost in the light of dawn. On the night of the new moon (July 5-6) in mid-northern latitudes the planet will rise at about 2 am – it rises at 2:03 am in New York City, and the time will be similar in cities such as Chicago ( 1:56 am CDT), Denver (2:10 am MDT), and Sacramento (2:18 am PDT). Mars will be in the constellation of Aires, and it will be easy to see because Aires is made up of fainter stars.
Jupiter rises after Mars, at 3:07 am EDT in New York. Jupiter is in Taurus, to the left of and above Aldebaran, the brightest star in that constellation. Aldebaran is much more orange, and twinkles, making it easy to pick out the yellow-white planet that emits a steady light.
This means that by about 4:30 local time in the mid-northern latitudes the three planets exposed to the eyes further from the sun than the Earth make a kind of line across the sky from the eastern horizon to the right, starting with Jupiter and ended. with Saturn.
In the Southern Hemisphere, for example in Melbourne, Australia, (where the new moon is on July 6) the three planets will also form a line, but this time up and to the left (as it faces north). Saturn will also be higher in the sky. In Melbourne (and other mid-south latitude locations) Saturn will rise at 10:22 pm EST on July 6; when the planet transits (crossing the north-south line in the sky) at 4:43 am on July 7th it will be a full 58 degrees above the northern horizon. Mars rises at 3:22 am AEST, and Jupiter at 4:47 am Jupiter’s position in the sky relative to Aldebaran will be reversed; Jupiter will appear below Aldebaran rather than above (it will still appear to the left).
Stars of the summer
For Northern Hemisphere sky watchers, by about 10 pm the Summer Triangle is high in the eastern sky; the “top” star is Vega, the brightest star in Lyra the Lyre, and it is almost at its zenith (about 70 degrees above the horizon). The other two stars in the Summer triangle are Deneb and Altair, both to the east (left) of Vega; from a dark sky location the Milky Way can be seen inside the Triangle. The three stars form a rough triangle to the right with an Altar to the south.
Turning left – towards the north you will see the Big Dipper to the left (west) and slightly below Polaris, the pole star. Following the “guides” (the two stars in front of the bowl of the Blacksmith, Black and Merak) to Polaris and continuing straight across you come across Cepheus, the king, and just below Cepheus is the “W” shape of Cassiopeia, who It will be low in the northeast.
In the opposite direction, follow the handle of the great smith and “arc to Arcturus” the brightest star in Boötes, the boy, and continuing down you hit Spica, the brightest star in Virgo. Turning south (left), one sees the bright red star Antares, the heart of Scorpius, and in places in the darker sky looking up (north) from Scorpio one sees Ophiuchus the healer, with Sagittarius and its “teapot” shape on the left. of Scorpius.
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In the mid-south latitudes the winter stars appear – darkness comes earlier. By 7 pm the sky is dark and the Southern Cross is high above the southern sky, about 65 degrees. To the left of the Cross (east) is Alpha Centauri, also known as Rigil Kentaurus, our nearest stellar neighbor. Further east and closer to the horizon is Scorpio, although upside down (from a northern hemisphere observer) and very high in the sky; Antares is 47 full degrees high by 7 pm
In the southwest, the keel of the ship, Puppis, is located and marked by Canopus, about 20 degrees above the southwest horizon. Canopus is the second brightest star in the night sky after Sirius. In the same region of the sky to the left (towards the south) are the Large Magellanic Cloud and the Small Magellanic Clouds, two satellite galaxies of the Milky Way.
