This is a stack of 20 5 minute exposures taken with my ZWO ASI071MC-Cool camera through my 8" Astro-Tech Ritchey-Chretien telescope. Stacked with Deepsky Stacker and Processed in Images Plus and Photoshop.

Well, the shortest night is behind us now and it’s finally getting dark enough to get in a little stargazing and still get to bet at a fairly reasonable hour, well before midnight, anyway. We have enjoyed a July with quite a few good, clear nights, which means for the past several weeks, I have been operating under a severe case of self-inflicted sleep deprivation!

In particular, I have been enjoying some great nights observing and imaging our own galaxy, the Milky Way. I discovered a little county park “Look Out” over the wetlands region west of Chelsea, near Hwy. 30. It has a little gravel parking area and wooden deck with a permanently mounted set of binoculars. It was meant to give people great views of the wetland birds, of course, but it is also a fantastic place to enjoy the beautiful Milky Way with very dark skies and a fairly low unobstructed horizon from the east-southeast to the west. While mosquito repellant is mandatory there, the views are certainly worth it. I’m looking forward to several more visits this summer and fall and maybe even a few this winter when Orion will be high above tree line.

If you have not taken the time to enjoy gazing at our home galaxy yet this year, don’t worry, there is still plenty of time! Especially now that astronomical dusk ends close to 10 pm around the middle of the month instead of around 11 pm. For most of July. Astronomical dusk, for those of you who may not know, is when the geographical center of the Sun is at 18 degrees below the horizon. After this point, the sky is no longer illuminated and is as dark as it will be until Astronomical twilight begins when the Sun is 12 to 18 degrees below the horizon before Dawn.

I have talked with many people at various public star parties and it is surprising how many people have never seen the Milky Way. I shouldn’t be too surprised, I guess, because the bright lights that make people feel safe in most cities and even in small towns put way too much light into the sky rather than on the ground where it is useful. There is hope, though because street light design is improving, but in the meantime, I would encourage you to plan a little trip south of whatever city or town you live in this month. Try to find a county park just a few miles out of town and visit it between the 3rd and the 16th because the Moon will be out of the evening sky then. You will be astonished at how bright the Milky Way looks and also how many stars you can see. If the air is really transparent and clear, the Milky Way will look like a string of clouds arcing overhead with the lovely swan, Cygnus flying south right in the middle.

If possible, and if the weather cooperates, the very best night to do this would be the night of August 11/12 that is the evening of the 11th and the early morning hours of the 12th. That is the night that the Perseid Meteor Shower is predicted to peak. The best time to view them will be between midnight and dawn but you might see some anytime after it gets dark, especially from a dark location such as we talked about earlier. Predictions for a dark site after midnight are for 50 or so per hour one or two per minute. That might not sound like a lot, but the wait in between them makes spotting one shooting across the sky that much more exiting! Take a lawn chair and a thermos of hot chocolate (alcohol is bd for night vision), dress warmly and don’t forget the mosquito repellant and enjoy the Milky Way and some Perseids!

Venus is visible low in the west after sunset all month. In a telescope, Venus will go from a slightly gibbous phase (in other words it will look like a tiny quarter moon in a telescope) to a fat crescent by the end of the month. It’s apparent diameter will grow by over 8 arc seconds from 20.4″ on the 1st to 28.8″ on the 31st. Jupiter is still bright in the southwest at dust this month and sets around 10:30 at the end of the month. Saturn continues to hang out in Sagittarius this month and is spectacular in just about any telescope. Mars shines super bright in the southeast, rising shortly after 8pm on the 1st and just before 6pm on the 31st so it is well placed in the evening skies all month. Clear Skies!