Backyard Universe: Here’s how to see Venus and Mars together next month over the Fayetteville area – The Fayetteville Observer

Johnny Horne| Correspondent

Remember back just before Christmas when bright planets Jupiter and Saturn appeared dramatically close together in the evening sky?

July will bring another evening planetary pairing, but this time planets Venus and Mars will appear to huddle close together.

The Venus and Mars pairing wont feature as tight of a pairing as last Decembers event with the two worlds appearing about degree apart on July 11-12. The apparent diameter of the moon spans about degree.

You can watch the two planets draw closer to one another over the next several evenings.

Venus is easiest to spot because it glows brilliantly low in the western sky soon after sunset. Unless the moon is in the sky, no object shines brighter than Venus on July evenings. Venus sets early,however, dipping below the horizon shortly after 10 p.m., so youll need a spot with an unobstructed western horizon to spot Venus.

More: Backyard Universe: Like eclipses? Here's when people in Fayetteville area can see them in 2021

Mars is a little tougher to spot and appears as a medium bright reddish star to the upper left of Venus around the first of July.Mars has moved far from its close passage by Earth back in October when it appeared very bright. Its on the far side of the sun now from our perspective and has dimmed considerably.

Over the coming nights, Venus will appear to move to the left along the southern horizon each night while Mars will appear to sink lower in the sky.

The nights of July 10-14 have both planets very close together, with July 12 being the night of closest separation. The observing window for viewing the pairing starts around 8:45 and continues until both planets set.

With Mars so much fainter than Venus, binoculars may be helpful in spotting tiny dim Mars in such close proximity to the blazingly bright Venus.

Unlike the compelling view last December of planets Jupiter and Saturn in the same telescope field of view, pointing a telescope toward Venus and Mars in July wont be nearly as impressive.

The planet Venus is perpetually and completely covered by clouds so no surface features are visible through any earth-based telescope. Because Venus is an inner planet whose orbits lies totally within Earths orbit, Venus shows phases as it orbits the sun and our viewing angle on it changes. A telescope view of Venus in July will show a gibbous phase…or just shy of being full."

Mars was very cool to observe with a telescope with its white polar cap and dark surface features when it was at a close opposition last October. But the red planet in July is about six times more distant from us during July compared to last October.

That makes Mars appear as little more than a red dot in the eyepiece of even large telescopes. Mars is only half the size of Earth so the 230 million miles separating us from the planet in July makes for a tiny looking planet, though Mars still appears red. During mid-July Venus lies about 132 million miles from us.

Not only will Venus and Mars huddle close to one another on the evening of July 11, but a slim crescent moon will hang to the lower right near both planets on that same evening. The following evening, July 12, the moon will also be present but will above the planetary pair.

The low western sky position of the bodies can help with showing them in close proximity to foreground objects and scenes along the western horizon.

If skies are clear, theres a nice picture to be made the evening of July 11and 12 showing the two planets and slim crescent moon above a compelling foreground scene.

If you have a question about astronomy, send it to Backyard Universe P.O. Box 297, Stedman, NC 28391 or emailjohnnyhorne937@gmail.com

Support local journalism with a subscription to The Fayetteville Observer. Click the "subscribe'' link at the top of this article.

Read the rest here:

Backyard Universe: Here's how to see Venus and Mars together next month over the Fayetteville area - The Fayetteville Observer