The Ellensburg, WA sky for the week of July 18, 2020

Saturday:  Comet NEOWISE is exceeding expectations of viewability. See what all the fuss is about. Tonight may be the easiest night to see the comet because it forms a little triangle with two medium bright stars in Ursa Major called Talitha and Talitha Australis. This triangle is two fists held upright and at arm’s length above the northwestern horizon at 10:00 p.m. The comet should really stand out due to its long tail. Definitely look at the comet through binoculars. The tail will span most of your binocular field of view. If you don’t want to get any sleep, you can actually follow the comet for the entire night, until sunrise, because the comet never sets. For more information and images of the comet, go to https://skyandtelescope.org/astronomy-news/comet-neowise-dazzles-at-dusk/. 

Sunday: Well. If you are still up after a night of comet watching, you probably want an easier target to end your viewing session. Mercury is about a half a fist to the right of the waning crescent Moon at 5:00 a.m. just above the east-northeastern horizon. Venus, the brightest point of light in this part of the sky, is two fists above the eastern horizon at this time.

Monday: Take a two and a half hour walk today. Too long, you say? Fifty one years ago today, Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin took the first ever walk by humans on another world. They spend two and a half hours setting up scientific instruments and collecting rocks for study back on Earth. Their colleague Michael Collins orbited the Moon in the spacecraft the astronauts would use to return to Earth. While everyone seems to know about Armstrong and Aldrin, spend some time learning more about Collins by reading https://time.com/5624528/michael-collins-apollo-11/.

Tuesday:  Saturn is in opposition tonight. That doesn’t mean Saturn refuses to listen. Opposition means that Saturn is on the opposite side of the Earth as the Sun. When an object is in opposition, it is at its highest point in the sky during the darkest time of the day. It is also typically near its brightest and closest to Earth. Thus, opposition is the best time to observe a planet. Saturn is two fists above due south at 1:00 a.m., midnight non-daylight savings time. If you don’t want to stay up so late, you can see it at one fist above the southeast horizon at 10:00 p.m. Much brighter Jupiter is less than a fist to the right of Saturn.

Wednesday: Say “good-bye” to Regulus tonight, before it gets lost in the glare of the setting Sun. It is less than a half a fist above the west-northwestern horizon at 9:30 p.m., right below the waxing crescent Moon.

Thursday: The Southern Delta Aquarid meteor shower has a long gradual peak for the next few weeks into mid-August. Meteor showers are named after the constellation from which the meteors appear to originate. These meteors appear to come from a point in Aquarius near the star Delta Aquarii, also known as Skat. This point is about two and a half fists held upright and at arm’s length above the southeast horizon at 3 am early this morning. You can follow this point throughout the night and for the next few weeks, as it will remain a fist above Fomalhaut, the brightest star in that section of the sky. Read about the shower, at https://earthsky.org/?p=159138.  As your Mother might say, dress warm and sit in a comfortable chair for maximum enjoyment. Meteors are tiny rocks that hit the Earth and burn up in the atmosphere.

Friday: The Gemini twins, Castor and then Pollux, rise just before the Sun. They are both less than a fist above the northeastern horizon at 4:45 a.m. Pollux is the brightest star, as measured from Earth, with a confirmed planet in orbit. It is likely that there are brighter stars with undiscovered planets.

The positional information in this column about stars and planets is typically accurate for the entire week. For up to date information about the night sky, go to https://nightsky.jpl.nasa.gov/planner.cfm.