Tuesday, July 23, 2024


Bright Moon Shines with Saturn (overnight)

When the bright, waning gibbous moon rises in the east late on Tuesday
evening, July 23 in the Americas, the yellowish dot of Saturn will be shining
a fist's diameter to its lower left (or 10 degrees to the celestial east). The pair will cross the sky together all night long. Hours later, observers in a zone stretching from eastern Africa and Madagascar, across most of southern Asia, northwest Indonesia, and most of China and Mongolia can watch the moon occult Saturn. Lunar occultations of planets can be watched with sharp,
unaided eyes in a dark sky, and through binoculars and backyard telescopes, even when the sky is brighter. Exact times depend on your location, so use an app like Starry Night to look up your circumstances. You can also use the app to simulate where on the dark section of the moon Saturn will re-appear.


Pluto at Opposition near Messier 75 (all night)

On the nights surrounding Tuesday, July 23, the dim and distant dwarf planet designated (134340) Pluto will reach opposition for 2024. On that date, the Earth will be positioned between Pluto and the sun, minimizing our distance from that outer world and maximizing Pluto's visibility. While at opposition, Pluto will be located 3.16 billion miles, 5.09 billion km, or 283 light- minutes from Earth. Unfortunately, it will shine with an extremely faint
visual magnitude of +14.4 that is far too dim for visual observing through a small backyard telescope. Pluto will be located in the sky about a palm's
width to the upper left (or 5.5 degrees to the celestial north-northeast) of the four medium-bright stars named Omega, 59, 60, and 62 Sagittarii, which huddle well to the left (celestial east) of Sagittarius' Teapot-shaped asterism. Alternatively, aim your telescope a generous thumb's width to the lower left (or 2.2 degrees southeast of) the globular star cluster named Messier 75. Even if you can't see Pluto directly, you will know that it is there.


GRS and Double Shadows on Jupiter

In the eastern sky before sunrise on Wednesday morning, July 24, observers
with good telescopes across western Europe and western Africa can watch the shadows of two of Jupiter's Galilean moons traverse Jupiter along with the Great Red Spot. At 5:02 a.m. Central European Summer Time (or 03:02 UT), the black spot of Io's shadow will join Europa's shadow, which began its own trek with the Great Red Spot at 3:45 a.m. CEST (or 01:45 UT). The spot and two shadows will be visible for about an hour. Europa's shadow will disappear at 6:07 a.m. CEST (or 04:07 UT), as the sky is brightening. Io's shadow will depart after 7 a.m. (or 05:00 UT).

(Data courtesy of Starry Night)
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