This is a busy night sky in July, with a lunar eclipse, so look

The Moon begins its tour of the planets on Sunday, July 15th. It will be a thin crescent moon in the west sky and is a large panel for Mercury that will be just to the left of the Moon with luminous Venus sitting above.

The next night, the Moon will be near Venus (as shown in the picture above). Then, on July 19, the Moon of the first quarter will be placed under the brilliant star Spica

On July 21, the Gibbous Moon will surrender to Jupiter and, here on July 25, she will meet

The Full Moon ends the tour on July 27 when she rejoins Mars who shines at her best and the brightest

Red Planet, Red Moon

Every month when we see the Full Moon, we see the moon "in opposition". This means that the Moon is directly opposite the Sun, rises when the Sun goes down and sets when the Sun rises

On July 27, not only is the Moon in opposition, but Mars too, and it is very favorable . much closer to the Earth than the average.

Mars approaching the Earth on July 31 at a distance of 58 million km and its rapid increase in luminosity in recent weeks has been amazing to see

Mars will eclipse Jupiter and become the third The brightest object in the night sky, behind the Moon and Venus (a graph of the brightness of Mars is here.)

The reason Mars can vary so much in brightness is because it's our neighbor in the space and it follows quite an elliptical orbit. Throughout the year 2017, Mars was quite dull as it was on the opposite side of the Sun to the Earth, and therefore the furthest away.

But even with each opposition, the distance between Earth and Mars can vary by almost 50 million kms. elliptical orbits of the two planets. 2018 is certainly one of the best

With Mars a striking red in the night sky, what else could be better than teaming up with a blood-red moon

Lunar Eclipse

When we look up at the sky during the first hours of July 28, Red Mars will sit just above and to the left of the eclipsed Moon.

Across Australia, everyone will see the moon enter the shadow of the Earth exactly at the same time. In fact, everyone on the side of the Earth will see the eclipse together, starting at 4:24 am (AEST) with the total eclipse starting at 5:30 am (AEST).

Western Australia will be the only state to observe the entire eclipse. It will begin with the high moon to the northwest and end with the low moon up to the west horizon at 6.19am (AWST).

For the rest of Australia, the eclipse will begin with the Moon in the western sky and the Moon will be defined as the eclipse progresses. As the Moon sets, the Sun will rise so that the later part of the eclipse will occur on the dawn sky.

The exact time of Moonset depends on the location, with the Moon setting earlier

In Brisbane, Sydney and Canberra, the Moon will lie down for the whole while Darwin, Adelaide, Melbourne and Hobart will see the end of the totality and the Moon will go to bed partially eclipsed.

The advantage of seeing the moon eclipsed low in the horizon is that the illusion of the moon will come into play. Our brains will lead us to think that the moon is bigger than normal, which explains why the rising and rising moon can be particularly breathtaking.

Lunar Trio

Lunar eclipses are usually slow and quiet events. while being the longest eclipse of the 21st century.

Totality will last 1 hour and 43 minutes, just 4 minutes of the longest possible duration. Three things came together to make this possible.

First and foremost, this eclipse will see the Moon move to the center of the Earth's shadow, causing a long, deep eclipse.

Second, the eclipse occurs a moon "apogee", when the Moon is the farthest from the Earth

For those who remember Kepler's Second Law, being at its farthest distance means that the Moon is moving at its slower. As a result, it will spend 5-10 minutes more in the shadow of the Earth compared to a Perigee Moon, when the Moon is at its closest approach to Earth and is moving faster.

Finally, a few extra minutes are recovered because this eclipse is occurring near the aphelion, that is, when the Earth is farthest from the Sun and occurs in early July .