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The hottest months of the year begin and with them great evenings to admire the sky. And this year again a show: the total eclipse of the longest moon of the century, a wonderful Luna Rossa also visible from Italy. On July 27, for 1 hour and 43 minutes, we will admire our red satellite. Do not miss it.
All with raised noses from 7:13 to 2:31. The totality will be at 21:30 until 23:14, but before and after we will be able to admire the respective partial eclipses, which are both 1 hour and 6 minutes
This did not never been so long. The last recorded on Earth emerged on January 31, not visible here, and lasted "only" one hour and 16 minutes, while the next, scheduled for January 21, 2019, will last 1 hour and 2 hours . minutes. The longest lunar eclipse of the last century, which dates back to July 16, 2000, lasted 1 hour and 46.4 minutes, then slightly more than that.
Luna Rossa
picture: Timeanddate
A lunar eclipse occurs when the Earth's shadow, illuminated by the Sun, completely or partially obscures the Moon and at the moment the Moon is full, while the Sun, the Earth, and itself are aligned in this order. In other words, the Sun illuminates the Earth, which casts its shadow on the Moon.
When the total eclipse of Luna occurs, it is said that in the sky there Luna Rossa : the disc of our satellite appears actually slightly dyed in red and this is due to the dispersion of Rayleight the same which makes us appear the blue sky the day and the red at night.
Our planet, in other words, illuminated by the Sun, spreads the rays of the sun towards the Moon, and those less attenuated by the atmosphere, among those visible to us, are the red. Thus, the moon, which during the eclipse is not reached by direct sunlight, is lit only by these, and therefore appears in red.
The phenomenon will last especially because our satellite will cross the central part of the Earth's shadow, which has a larger extension and will be a miniluna because in the apogee terrestrial (at the furthest point of us in the orbit and therefore apparently smaller).
Moreover, our planet will also be at aphelion, that is to say at the point of maximum distance from the Sun. According to Kepler's laws in the farthest points of the orbit the stars travel more slowly. the eclipse lasts longer.
And this does not stop there, because the eclipse of the moon will take place while our planet will be in conjunction with Mars which will in turn be particularly visible in the sky, obviously without clouds. But we hope that July 27th is almost certain.
The 27th of the month will be an essential date, but it is not the only event that awaits us in this month of July which has just begun. Here is what we can expect from each other.
Planets
Second only to the Moon because of its spectacular eclipse, the other absolute protagonist of the July sky will be March . Visible for most of the month, it will be in conjunction with our planet eclipsed on the 27th, and never so brilliant since 2003.
Especially brilliant also Venus which takes place about two hours after the Sun. During the month, however, the time available to admire it is reduced by about half an hour and so its visibility will tend to shrink.
Throughout the night also Saturn theoretically visible also to the naked eye (but with a much better telescope), as well as Neptune next to the Opposition to the Sun, which will illuminate it completely. For this planet, however, adequate tools are indispensable.
It will not disappoint either Uranus visible in the second part of the night, but especially essential for Pluto which the 12th of the month will be in opposition with our star. Pointed telescopes, so.
More difficult, however, the observation of Mercury and Jupiter which will worsen more and more during the month.
But keep in mind a particular date: Venus, Jupiter, Mars and Saturn will be visible together (weather permitting) on the evening of Saturday, July 7th. An opportunity not to be missed to take a trip out of town in a place away from the city lights to see the 4 planets under a star coat.
Conjunctions
Useless (or perhaps not) to repeat: the conjunction of the month (and of the year) is that of July 27 Moon eclipsed-Mars in the constellation of Capricorn. On the map the sky of July 27 at 22:00.
But the moon is not satisfied: between the evening of the 15th and that of the 16th of July "surpbades" Venus in the constellation of Leo, giving us two consecutive conjunctions, while 20 reached Jupiter in Libra. The evening of 24 is therefore the turn of Saturn which meets our satellite in Sagittarius.
Two other perhaps more difficult conjunctions for which an attempt is worthwhile are Mercury – M44 the evening of July 4 and Luna-Mercurio the evening of the 14th.
Meteors
Watch out for the nights in the absence of the Moon, whose flood phase is expected, as already repeated, the 27th of the month (which makes it very difficult, for example , the observation of Aquaridae delta 19459007 whose maximum is expected on the 28th of the month).
For meteors then pitched up and ready the desires on July 10, maximum of Pegasidi young minor swarm of fast meteors whose origin is unknown (on the map the sky from July 10 to 23:45 ) and 12th, maximum of Capricornids which offer unusually slow and brilliant meteors, as well as, at least in most cases, a spectacular final explosion.
Favorable to the observation this year also the Aquilidi (maximum 17/18 July) which seems to radiate from a region between the shield and the Eastern border of Aquila and range Draconidi which in 2016, after years of quiescence, showed at the end of the month an unexpected and very short feat. Which, who knows, maybe it could happen again.
Good vision!
Roberta De Carolis
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