Welcome to the Ontario Parks “Eyes on the Skies” series. This space (<– see what we did there?) will cover a wide range of astronomy topics with a focus on what can be seen from the pristine skies found in our provincial parks.
July has finally arrived. Summer is the perfect time to escape the noise, air, and light pollution of the larger urban areas and head to the peace and serenity of a provincial park.
July also hosts a number of beautiful constellations, full of interesting stories to tell.
Here are our astronomical highlights for July, 2024:
The sun
The Earth reaches its furthest point to the sun on July 5. This point is called “Aphelion” and is, on average, about five million kilometres further than when the Earth is at its closest point (“Perihelion”) in early January.
As described in our March edition, the reason that our summers are hot in spite of the distance to the sun has everything to do with the tilt of the Earth and not its distance.
Sunrise and sunset times
The late sunsets in July provide people with the opportunity to enjoy spectacular sunsets.
| July 1 | July 15 | July 31 | |
| Sunrise | 5:39 a.m. | 5:50 a.m. | 6:07 a.m. |
| Midday | 1:30 p.m. | 1:32 p.m. | 1:32 p.m. |
| Sunset | 9:20 p.m. | 9:13 p.m. | 8:56 p.m. |
The moon
The moon has long captivated observers of all ages. July’s lunar phases of the moon occur as follows:
The planets
The planets are still quite close to the sun to see them well with the exception of Saturn.
By month’s end, Saturn will rise around 22:30 and is due south at 4:00 a.m. While this is not a convenient time for many people, those wishing to see the planet can get up (or stay up) and notice it slight yellowish tinge as compared to some of the bluer stars (Vega and Deneb in the Summer Triangle for example).
Venus is making an appearance in the evening at sunset. However, because of the angle of the ecliptic, Venus is actually very very low in the sky at sunset. By month’s end its only about seven degrees above the western horizon at sunset and doesn’t get much better in August!
Meteor showers
July has two minor meteor showers, the Capricornids and the Delta Aquarids. Both showers provide only a few meteors per hour; a few/hour for the Capricornids and as much as 20/hour for the Delta Aquarids.
The Capricornids do not have a clear peak but, rather, rise and fall gently in terms of numbers of meteors per hour. The Delta Aquarids, on the other hand, have a noticeable peak around July 30 to July 31.
However, because the moon is nearly full at the end of July, meteors will be hard to see. The good news, however, is that the annual Persied meteor shower, falling nearly two weeks later, should be near new moon and will provide the viewer with many more meteors!
As always, the best way to prepare for a meteor shower is to:
- get lots of rest
- use sunglasses for at least three days prior to the shower (to maximize your eyes’ night vision capability)
- set up a lounge chair and a sleeping bag (use some sort of dew cover or your bag will end up quite wet)
- get lots of drink and munchies
And best of all, enjoy the experience with some good companionship.
A meteor shower occurs when the Earth enters the debris field of a comet that has long ago passed around the sun.
These bits of dust and grit, often no bigger than your thumbnail, enter the Earth’s atmosphere and burn up high above the ground.
Learn more about summer meteor showers.
Featured constellations: the birds of summer
In this month’s featured constellations, we take a look at the Summer Triangle and the constellations of Lyra, Cygnus, Aquila, and Scorpius.
Learn more about these star stories here.
The Summer Triangle returns
July is also a great time to view the Summer Triangle and the constellations of stars and objects it encompasses. You can learn more about these stars and how to see them here.
Ontario Parks and Allen I. Carswell Observatory’s Astronomer in Residence Program
Do you want to learn more about astronomy from an expert? Or, are you an expert who would love to teach astronomy in one of our beautiful park in an official dark sky preserve?
If so, then the Allen I. Carswell Observatory Astronomer in Residence Program is for you!
Each year, qualified astronomy educators participate in this amazing program in the wonderful dark skies of Killarney Provincial Park. Using both the Waasa Debaabing observatory (for solar observing) and the Kchi Waasa Debaabing Observatory for looking at the moon, planets and deep sky objects (galaxies, clusters, and nebulae), a myriad of visitors get a chance to experience first-hand, seeing and learning about the cosmos and how we and are parks are connected to the vastness of space.
To learn more about this program, how to participate, please check out the Allen I. Carswell Observatory Astronomer in residence site here.
To read the blog written by the current astronomer in residence (which changes every few weeks), you can do that on our blog.
This completes our review of the July skies…
Come back next month to learn more about our galaxy!
