Evenings this month are a perfect time to look up.
The showstopper of the night sky is the Summer Triangle, which is made up of three bright stars from three different constellations: Altair from Aquila the Eagle, Deneb from Cygnus the Swan and Vega from Lyra. Stargazers will also be able to see planets, star clusters and two meteor showers – all with the naked eye. Most can be seen within the five boroughs, in a park, cemetery or other dark spaces.
Jackie Faherty, astrophysicist at the American Museum of Natural History, called the Summer Triangle the “premier thing in the sky in July.”
Another summer constellation, Scorpius, is not hard to find. It’s shaped like a scorpion and at the very heart of the constellation is an orange-red supergiant star called Antares.
Spica, a very bright brilliant blue star in the sky, is in the constellation of Virgo. This star will perform a magic trick of sorts on July 13 around 11:25 p.m. On that evening, astronomy buffs can watch the moon edge closer and closer to Spica, until the star disappears behind its lunar neighbor.
“Even in New York City, you can see Spica,” Faherty said. “Some of the joy is watching the star come back out as the moon passes.”
The star cluster Pleiades, which means seven sisters, contains over a thousand stars bound loosely by gravity. The cluster is also called Subaru (hence the logo of the car company).
Often mistaken for stars, three planets are visible with an unaided eye – Mars, Saturn and Jupiter. They are not difficult to find in the dissonance because they are bright, but do not twinkle.
At the beginning of the month, Saturn will rise just before midnight, but by the end it will be visible as early as 10 p.m. For night owls, Mars and Jupiter join Saturn in the sky after 1 a.m.
“You can have Mars, Jupiter and Saturn all together,” Faherty said. “They’re bright, beautiful planets.”
There are also two meteor showers this month. Southern Delta Aquariids begins July 18 and extends to Aug. 21. On July 29-30, the shower peaks with 20 meteors per hour at a speed of 25 miles per second. The shooting stars will appear in the southern part of the sky, originating from the constellation Aquarius.
The Southern Delta Aquariids are space debris leftover from the comet 96P/Machholz, discovered in 1986. The 4-mile wide comet has a short five-year orbit around the sun.
The second meteor shower of the month is the Perseids, which begins on July 14 and ends Sept. 1. At its peak on Aug. 11-12, up to 100 meteors per hour streak through the sky at a speed of 37 miles per second.
The meteor shower is one of Faherty’s favorites because of its bright and plentiful shooting stars. The cosmic light show is the result of space dust from comet 109P/Swift-Tuttle, which takes 133 years to orbit the sun. The comet’s nucleus is 16 miles wide.
The best way to see a meteor shower is on your back under a dark sky. Be patient. It takes about 30 minutes for eyes to adjust to the darkness, which will make the meteors more visible.
Another dazzling sight to see with the naked eye this time of year is the Milky Way. In July, it’s high in the sky, especially toward the end of the month.
The constellations Scorpius and Sagittarius are close by, and can be used to locate the center of the Milky Way. It’s difficult to see from the city, but New Yorkers vacationing under darker skies such as the Catskills or farther north will see clouds in the night sky.
“It’s a wispiness that is representative of all of these stars that are making up the disc of the Milky Way that we live in,” Faherty said. “The Milky Way is so gorgeous – it stretches from one side of the sky to the next, and it just kind of looks like a white river.”
While binoculars and telescopes aren’t required, a closer look can bring many of these celestial sights to life such as the rings of Saturn as well as planet surfaces and moons. The Amateur Astronomers Association hosts free public viewings throughout the city, several times per week.
Daisy Hips is a science communicator who brings the wonders of the natural world to readers. Her articles explore breakthroughs in various scientific disciplines, from space exploration to environmental conservation. Daisy is also an advocate for science education and enjoys stargazing in her spare time.
