The main attractions in the starry sky in July are the planets. They appear almost equally in the evening and in the morning.
Mercury shines deep in the west in the evening as darkness falls. It sets at around 8 p.m., about an hour and a half after the sun. Mars is slightly higher in the west above the constellation Leo. It disappears on the horizon at around 10.20 p.m. (see TimeAndDate.com; all times refer to 15 July for the location Windhoek).
Early risers can enjoy Venus, which rises at 4:30 a.m. It is located in the northeast in the constellation Taurus, diagonally to the left below the reddish-shimmering star Aldebaran.
To the right of it is Orion, the Hunter, having his hunting dog on his right side. Canis Major is easy to find thanks to its main star, Sirius, the brightest star in the sky.
Jupiter rises in the west at 6:30 a.m., an hour before the Sun, and is only faintly visible at dawn. Saturn, on the other hand, which rises at around 11.35 p.m., is clearly visible high in the north-west, diagonally to the right above the moon.
The planets Uranus (rising at 3.45 a.m.) and Neptune (at around 11.30 p.m.) can only be seen with a telescope. Uranus is diagonally to the left above Venus and Aldebaran. Neptune is located almost directly below Saturn.
Sunrise on 1 July is around 7.32 am, sunset around 6.18 pm. On 31 July, the sun rises at around 7.25 am and sets at around 6.30 pm. The length of the day (time with sunlight) will therefore increase by 19 minutes over the course of the month – from 10 hours and 46 minutes to 11 hours and 5 minutes (see Timeanddate.com).
The phases of the moon in July: last quarter 2 July, new moon 10 July, first quarter 18 July, full moon 24 July. The moonlight is therefore the least disturbing when observing the stars and planets at the beginning to middle of July.
You can also find out more about the Namibian starry sky in July in the Astro News by Lutz von Dewitz in the news section on the website of the Namibia Scientific Society.
Sven-Eric Stender