LISTEN to this week’s Sky Report
This is the Griffith Observatory Sky Report for the week ending Wednesday, July 31, 2013. Here is what’s happening in the skies of Southern California:
The brilliant white light above the western horizon after sunset is the planet Venus. Venus is the brightest of all the planets, and can even be found in broad daylight if you know precisely where to look. Because Venus is currently on the far side of the sun, a telescope now shows the planet with a nearly full phase. Venus sets at 9:35 p.m.
The ringed planet, Saturn, is the brightest object in the southwest sky as darkness falls, and is visible until it sets in west-southwest at 12:15 a.m. A telescope is required to see the planet’s spectacular system of rings, the north side of which is titled 17 degrees in our direction. The planet is still a featured object through Griffith Observatory’s public telescopes.
The waning moon makes its appearance an average of 36 minutes later each successive night. This week, moonrise moves from 9:20 p.m. on the 24th to 1:02 a.m. on the 31st. The phase changes from gibbous to crescent, reaching last quarter on Monday the 29th. The moon appears close to the Pleiades star cluster in Taurus the Bull before dawn on the 31st.
Look 45 minutes before sunrise, at 5:15 a.m. to see three planets above the eastern horizon. The brightest is Jupiter. Fainter, orange planet Mars moves from 1 degree to 4 degrees to the lower left of Jupiter this week, while planet Mercury maintains a position of 10 degrees below Jupiter all week.
Free views of the sun during the day and of the moon, planets, and other celestial objects at night, are available to the public in clear weather through Griffith Observatory’s telescopes Tuesday-Sunday before 9:30 p.m. Check our website for our schedule. The next public star party on the grounds of Griffith Observatory, hosted by the Los Angeles Astronomical Society, the Sidewalk Astronomers, and the Planetary Society, will take place on Saturday, August 17.
From Griffith Observatory, I’m Anthony Cook and I can be reached at griffithobserver@gmail.com.