Mars dominates the July night sky

Alan Dyer is a stargazer for a long time, but this month he focuses on the red planet

The author, journalist, amateur astronomer and photographer from Calgary tells The Homestretch the heavenly neighbor of the Earth. is currently a must in the night sky.

"The real star of the show … it's March," says Dyer.

The reason is that, as a Hollywood star landing a juicy party in a sequel Star Wars Mars landed "We are closer to Mars than we are to it. have been in the last 15 years, so it's particularly brilliant, and Mars is the red planet, and you can say it because it looks great "Dyer said:

How the look

Even better, unlike a solar eclipse, there is no "Just [use a] at the naked eye to have a very good look, but we hope of course that next month or two near us, that it will be particularly good in a telescope ope ", adds Dyer

. The weather can be difficult when it comes to seeing planets – especially when the weather Dyer is most concerned about 57 million kilometers. "Unfortunately, even though we have a lot of clear nights here, the weather on Mars" There is a dust storm that occurred on Mars about three weeks ago, and on Mars, these things can become global and cover the entire planet! ", he said.Martian weather will clear up a bit later this summer.And certainly in August, late July and throughout the month of August, Mars will be more early, more prime time, still very close to us – especially July 31, when it will be the closest, he said.

While Mars is preparing to dominate the night sky for a few more weeks, let's admit it : the sky is quite large.

One of the best night sky astronauts is also one of the best known.

"It will be necessary to wait until midnight before it gets dark enough to see the Milky Way, but for the next nights … take a look, and you'll see this gray misty light band across the sky. This is our galaxy. "

Dyer says that summer nights are a perfect opportunity to explore the night skies, abandoning city lights for the outskirts of the city. [19659099] "[Drive to] a provincial park or county park or something like that you can put up and do not disturb people and not intrude, of course, and be safe.

"Certainly if you want to look at the dark night sky, you have to get out of the city lights." Next week, it's a perfect moment for the Milky Way.

"Mars will be brilliant all over the # 39; summer. And then next month, it is around this time that the dark skies will return without the moon and [then] we will have a magnificent view of the Milky Way. "

Alan Dyer with the new Canadian stamp presenting his Dyer took the picture in 2016 in Churchill, Manitoba [Image © Alan Dyer / AmazingSky.com]

Conjunction with the Horizon

As the moon returns during of the weekend, On Sunday evening, it will be closer to Venus in the night sky than during all summer.

That means that all amateur astronomers armed with a camera should make a Sunday evening circle on their heavenly sky. "If you can find yourself a beautiful scenic place, you can get a nice picture of the crescent moon next to Venus," says Dyer.

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With The Islands of The Homestretch.