Here’s a brief look at what’s going on in the Mile High City this week.

July 28:

• Catch the waxing crescent Sturgeon Moon near the red planet Mars low in the constellation Virgo in the western sky after sunset.
• Moon reaches its Descending Node as it crosses the earth’s orbital plane from north to south. 2:30 AM
• DAS E-Board Meeting: Check your membership email for a Zoom link: 7:00PM

July 29:

• Southern Delta Aquarid meteor shower peaks (about 15 to 20 per hour) after midnight appearing to radiate from the constellation Aquarius in the early morning southern skies.
• Rocky Mountain National Park “Stories of the Moon & Stars”: Moraine Park Discovery Center📍: 8:30-11:00 pm

July 30:

• Look for the waxing crescent Sturgeon Moon near Spica, the brilliant blue-white binary star system in the constellation Virgo. The name Spica comes from Latin and means “ear of wheat,” referring to the star’s position in the constellation Virgo, which is often depicted as a maiden holding a sheaf of wheat. Low in the western sky after sunset.

July 31:

• Standley Lake Stargazing Virtual Program Guest Speaker Dr. Alan Hale – Co-discoverer of Comet Hale-Bopp and President of The Earthrise Institute: Zoom Link: 6:00 PM
• Mercury at inferior conjunction – our smallest planet is positioned directly between the Earth and the Sun in its orbit.

August 1:

• Standley Lake Stargazing Star Party: Michael Northey Park Basketball Court, Arvada📍: 8:30 – 10:00 PM
• First Quarter Sturgeon Moon: 6:41 AM
• The Moon reaches Apogee: (its farthest point in its elliptical orbit from Earth – 404,164 km): 2:37 PM

August 2:

• Look for the Keystone asterism high overhead in the constellation Hercules the August skies. The Keystone serves as a guide to two of the most popular globular star clusters in the night sky: Messier 13, the Great Hercules Cluster, located along its western side, and Messier 92, found just north of the asterism.

August 3:

• Titan Shadow Transit on Saturn: Shadow transits of Titan only happen about every 15 years. There are just a few more this year. 12:25 AM – 5:04 AM

Sky Map

• The pdf map of the night sky from SkyMaps.com can be found at https://www.skymaps.com/skymaps

This Week’s Meteoric Activity:

You can keep track of the activity of meteor showers as well as those beyond the limits of visual observing by visiting the NASA Meteor Shower Portal.

• Southern delta Aquariids (SDA): 4:00 AM in western Aquarius: 10-15 per hour
• Perseids: last hour before dawn in western Perseus: 3 per hour.
• Anthelion (ANT): 2:00 AM in central Capricornus: 3 per hour.
• alpha Capricornids (CAP): 1:00 AM in northwestern Capricornus: 2 per hour
• July gamma Draconids (GDR) 11:00 PM in southeastern Draco: 1 per hour.

Clear skies and happy stargazing!