THE PLANETS IN JULY

Press, Volume XCIII, Issue 28008, 30 June 1956, Page 10

THE PLANETS IN JULY

{Written for "The Press” by K. W. ROTH] Planet Jupiter is rather low in the north-west as evenine ?tar at night fall, it has lost much of hat br T S is £ ,he la “mon°h that Jupiter still affords a reason®ood tbrou S h a telescope, K g as 11 IS . sufficiently high above the horizon. It sets at 9.6 p.m 823 p.m. and 7.42 p.m. on July 1, 16, and 31 respectively. During the first week of this month. Jupiter s role as a wandering star becomes again very obvious to the casual observer without the aid ol ? ll ?f sco,,e - On July 3 it appears to be one full moon's disc below the fairly bright fixed star Regulu m the constellation Leo On the previous night and also on July 4 the apparent separation is distinctly greater, with the order of precereY,ersed on July 4. This is the mird and last encounter between Jupiter and Regulus during the las! eight months. The first and closest meeting was in November, 1955. observable m the morning skv Jupiter passing eastward; the second was m January, 1956, Jupiter passing westward, and now Jupiter is passing eastward again, thus completing a narrow loop. fa Saturn, the second largest planet of tne solar system, remains excellently placed for telescopic observation. Its rmg system affords a fascinating sight. Its satellites, which appear much fainter than Jupiter’s major moons, are not nearly as closely aligned on the extension of Saturn's diameter as Jupiter’s moons are with respect to their parent. This is because Saturn’s axis is much more tilted and we are looking down on its equatorial plane at present For the visual observer, Saturn is unmistakably identified as that stai which shows the least amount of twinkling if any. It is found in north, at the high elevation ot J - degrees, at 9.30 p.m., 8.30 p.m and 7.30 p.m., on July 1, 16 and 31 respectively.

Mars is still rising very late in the evening, at 10 22 p.m., 9.50 p.m. and 9.7 p.m., on July 1, 16 and 31 respectively, about 12 degrees south of due east. Its brightness is now increasing considerably and it catches the eye ol the casual observer, particularly very early in the morning, when it dominates in the north fairly high up. On July 31, it is 2.1 times as bright as on July 1. This corresponds to a reduction of its distance from the earth from 58 million miles to 44 million miles during the month, which means that Mars is approaching u« at the rate of 18,800 miles an hour or 5.2 miles every second. Viewed through a telescope, its disc will equal Saturn’s globe in size at the beginning of July, and surpass it in area by 80 per cent, at the end of the month. It is then the brightest star in the sky and particularly conspicuous because of itruddy colour.

Venus is now a brilliant mornins star low in the north-east at dawn. It rises Ih 15min before the sun on July 1, but 2h 48min in advance of