Each month, GuelphToday will share a Star Gazing Guide presented and organized by The Great Orbax, a science communcator from the University of Guelph's Department of Physics and local science education advocate.
Greetings star gazers!
Orbax here.
I’m a Science Communicator from the Department of Physics at the University of Guelph. Ever since I was a child growing up on a small farm in southern Ontario I’ve been fascinated by the night sky. As I got older, I quickly realized that same fascination extends to many in our community, regardless of their level of scientific literacy. Young and old and everywhere in between, many of us love to look up and wonder what’s happening out there beyond the edge of our sky. I realized I often only found out about interesting, and sometimes once in a lifetime, astronomical phenomena AFTER they had occurred.
Did you see that meteor shower last night?
How about that eclipse yesterday?
I was constantly missing out.
So I decided to create monthly video Star Gazing Guides for the Guelph area. Each month I collaborate with the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada Montreal Centre and Dr Glynis Perrett, a local planetary geochemist, to create a video Star Gazing Guide for the upcoming month that focuses on the night sky in our region. This one stop astro-shop will let you scan the skies without even needing a telescope and at the same time acts as a resource for the naturally curious junior scientists you may have in your household.
This month starts with a super moon! The full moon on July 3rd is the first of four supermoons with two to follow in August and one at the end of September rounding out our summer. July marks the last few nights of spotting Venus, but ushers in Saturn and Jupiter in the early morning hours just before dawn. If you’ve ever wanted to know whether what you’re seeing is a planet or a star, this is a perfect opportunity for you. July is also a great time to spot some of the better-known summer constellations. In this month’s video we learn how to find the constellations of Hercules, Draco and Ursa Minor. We also touch on an asterism that you can spot all summer long. In the Eastern sky, about midway above the horizon, are three very bright stars. Vega, Deneb and Altair. These stars, each part of their own constellations, form the corners of the Summer Triangle, a constellation that continues to rise in the sky as the summer goes on.
I hope you enjoy this month’s Star Gazing Guide. Not only is Star Gazing a great way to learn about space, planets and the stars but it’s also a great way to spend time with other curious minds. Until next month I hope you take some time… to look up.
