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THE CONSTELLATIONS S *T* A* R CH ART The star groups linked by lines are the constellations created by our ancestors thousands of years ago as a way of mapping the night sky. Modern astronomers still use the traditional names, which give today’s stargazers a permanent link to the sky myths and legends of the past. This season look for the Summer Triangle formed by the three bright stars Deneb, Vega and Altair. Each star marks the location of a separate constellation: Cygnus the swan, Lyra the lyre and Aquila the eagle. Find them high overhead during the mid-summer months. FOR SUMMER July/August * 2014 * THE PLANETS OBSERVING HIGHLIGHTS MERCURY is best seen in the eastern pre-dawn sky in mid-July. JULY 5 * First-quarter Moon; Moon 1° from Mars and 2° from Spica * VENUS drops closer to the Sun this summer as it shines brightly in the morning sky. * MARS can be seen in the southwest evening sky this summer, dimming from magnitude 0 to 0.6. * JUPITER is missing in action for most of the summer but will be making its return in the dawn sky in August. * SATURN is visible low in the southwest evening sky as a 0.5-magnitude “star” in Libra. OBSERVING TIP: Need a night-sky friendly flashlight? Cover a flashlight's lamp with brown or red paper to dim its light and preserve your night vision. MOON PHASES JULY 12 The first of this year’s Supermoons a.k.a. a perigee moon; During this full Moon, the Moon will be at its closest point in its orbit around Earth JULY 28 Southern Delta Aquariid meteor shower peaks; Not always the best to see from Canada but at least the Moon will set early this night AUG 10 * Second Supermoon of the year; This will be the largest full Moon of the year as the Moon will only be 356,896km away from the Earth AUG 12 Perseid meteor shower peaks; Unfortunately, the Moon will be bright and high in the sky AUG 18 * Conjunction between Venus and Jupiter; These two planets will look like they are very close to each other in the early morning sky AUG 18 * Waxing Moon 2° from Mars and 3° from Saturn in a tight triangle low in evening sky *Impressive or rare event SPACE STATION SIGHTINGS As the space station orbits the Earth, sunlight reflects off of its giant solar arrays. From Earth, it appears as a bright object moving high across the night sky. Visit www.heavens-above.com to get a list of upcoming ISS passes over your community. Full JULY 12 (7:25 a.m.), AUG 10 (2:10 p.m.) New JULY 26 (6:42 p.m.) AUG 25(10:13 a.m.) *FREE ASTRONOMY EVENTS AT THE OSC* August 9th, 10 a.m. – 12 p.m.: Solar Observing: Spot sunspots and solar flares through specially filtered telescopes. TELUSCAPE Check our calendar for more details: www.ontariosciencecentre.ca OUR CHART SHOWS the major stars, planets and constellations visible from Canada and the northern United States within one hour of these times: EARLY JULY: 11:30 P.M.; LATE MAY: 10:30 P.M. EARLY AUGUST: 9:30 P.M.; LATE JUNE: DUSK NORTH WEST W N N E EAST S E W S Download our most recent star chart: www.ontariosciencecentre.ca/tour/default.asp?demoid=75 SOUTH Cartography and design by Roberta Cooke. Base chart data derived from maps drawn by Roy Bishop for the Observer’s Handbook, published by The Royal Astronomical Society of Canada. ROTATING NIGHT SKY: During the night, the Earth’s rotation on its axis slowly shifts the entire sky. This is the same motion that swings the Sun on its daily eastto-west trek. The rotational hub is Polaris, the North Star, located almost exactly above the Earth’s North Pole. Everything majestically marches counter-clockwise around it, a motion that becomes evident after about half an hour. TO USE THIS CHART: Hold the chart in front of you and rotate it so the direction you are facing (N,S,E,W) is at the bottom of the chart. The edge of the chart represents the horizon; the overhead point is at centre. On a moonless night in the country, you will see more stars than are shown here; deep in the city, you will see fewer. The ecliptic line is the celestial pathway of the Moon and planets. The star groups straddling this line are known as the zodiac constellations. The Moon is shown for selected dates. Prepared for the Ontario Science Centre by SkyNews, the Canadian Magazine of Astronomy & Stargazing. SkyNews.ca SkyNews.ca 1-866-759-0005