The astronomical events of the month of july They are not the ones that bring the most dates to mark on the calendar. However, they are interesting because they contain three little-known meteor showers.
We all think that the Perseids, which takes place in August, is the summer meteor shower. However, lovers of astronomy can see its meteors mixed with those of the last tails of the delta aquarids, the austrinid pisces and the alpha capricorns. The first ones are somewhat better known, but the other two sometimes do not even appear in the lists of astronomical events.
This is because they are not very intense. In addition, they all occur at the same time, so they can be confused with each other. But they do have interesting details by which they can be differentiated and they are worth knowing. This, together with some conjunctions and, as always, a full Moon with a legendary name, make up the astronomical events of the month of July.
Full moon in the astronomical events of July
In these astronomical events, the full Moon arrives soon, day 3. It is known as roe deer moon, as it marks the time when ancient Native Americans observed male antlers beginning to grow. Also, due to its distance from Earth, it may look slightly larger and brighter than other full Moons, as it is the first supermoon this year.
It should be remembered that the term Super moon It is something rather colloquial, which does not have an astronomical definition. Even so, it is worth going out to see it, like absolutely all of them.
Three meteor showers happening at once
The delta aquarids They take place from July 12 to August 23, although their peak occurs in the early morning of July 29-30. They come from the debris of comets Marsden and Kracht, which meet Earth each year, and it is quite active, with between 35 and 50 meteors per hour.
As for the alpha capricorns, from comet 169P/NEAT, occur from July 3 to August 15, with their peak in the early morning of July 30. It is a much less active meteor shower, with few meteors per hour, but the good part is that they are very bright and striking fireballs.
Finally, the austrinid pisces take place from July 15 to August 10, with its peak on the night of July 29. It produces about 5 meteors per hour, so it is not very intense either.
The worst thing about these three meteor showers is that, during the two nights when their peaks will be seen, the moon will be almost full. That will make it very difficult to visualize these astronomical events, but it’s still worth a try.
conjunctions in heaven
As in the astronomical events of every month, in July we will also see interesting conjunctions. For example, they highlight the the Moon with Saturn on the 7th, with Jupiter on the 11th, with Mercury on the 19th and with Mars on the 21st.