SkyEye

The Calendar

The Solar System

The word planet is derived from the Greek word for 'wanderer'. Unlike the background stars, planets seem to move around the sky, keeping mostly to a narrow track called the ecliptic, the path of the Sun across the stars. Dwarf planets and small solar-system bodies, including comets, are not so constrained, often moving far above or below the ecliptic.

Sun Gemini → Cancer

Earth reaches its farthest point from the Sun on 4 July. The date of aphelion can range from 2 July to 6 July. The equation of time reaches a shallow minimum of nearly seven minutes on 25 July.

Mercury Gemini → Cancer → Leo

Invisible at the beginning of the month, Mercury is at superior conjunction on 7 July. It then appears in the evening sky shortly afterwards. The best sunset views of this tiny planet are from southern latitudes. It passes close to the first-magnitude star Regulus on 30 July.

Venus Gemini → Cancer → Leo

Venus is the evening star for the rest of the year. It starts quite close to the horizon for northern hemisphere observers and is not much higher when seen from the southern half of our planet. Venus will remain rather low for most of the year but is best viewed from the southern hemisphere. Look for our nearest neighbour to pass in front of the open star cluster M44, the Beehive Cluster, on 18 July.

Mars Libra

The red planet is well-situated for viewing after nightfall, not setting until after midnight.

Jupiter Leo

The largest planet in the solar system gets another visitor from Earth when the spacecraft Juno enters orbit on 5 July. Jupiter is found in the west as darkness falls and sets earlier every night. Penguins might catch a glimpse of it disappearing behind the Moon's disc on 9 July.

Saturn Ophiuchus

This bright planet is not far from Mars, setting about an hour afterwards.

Uranus Pisces

Rising about midnight at the beginning of the month, Uranus reaches west quadrature on 16 July.

Neptune Aquarius

A small telescope is necessary to view the most distant planet in the solar system. It rises in the evening and is up most of the night as it heads for opposition in early September. Parts of North America can see it being occulted by the Moon on 23 July.

Pluto Sagittarius

A medium-sized telescope and a detailed star chart is necessary to see this magnitude 14 dwarf planet at opposition on 7 July. It is not far from the star π Sgr but much, much fainter.