NASA's skywatching tips for July include an ‘eagle'
The planets take center stage this month, with July offering a great chance to view Mercury, Mars, Saturn, Venus, and Jupiter.
You'll be able to see Mercury for a brief period following sunset during the first week of July. Cast your gaze very low in the west 30 to 45 minutes after sundown. Mercury sets within the hour after that, so be sure to carefully pinpoint it before it vanishes from view.
Next up, Mars. The red planet will be visible for the first hour or two after it gets dark. 'You'll find it sinking lower in the sky each day and looking a bit dimmer over the course of the month, as our two planets' orbits carry them farther apart,' NASA says in its latest roundup video (top), adding that the crescent moon will appear right next to Mars on July 28.
The space agency also notes that July marks the 60th anniversary of the first successful flyby of Mars, by NASA's Mariner 4 spacecraft. During the mission, Mariner 4 also became the first spacecraft to beam back photos of another planet.
Saturn — the sixth planet from the sun and the second largest planet in our solar system — rises late in the evening this month, and by dawn appears high overhead to the south.
Meanwhile, Venus — our brightest planet — will be shining brightly throughout the month, making it easy to spot. However, you'll have to wake up early as it's only viewable a couple of hours before sunrise, toward the east.
Last but not least, Jupiter — the largest planet in our solar system — will be rising in the hour before sunrise and appearing a little higher with each passing day.
NASA also points out that July and August is an excellent chance to view the constellation Aquila, also known as the eagle as its star pattern resembles an eagle in flight.
'This time of year, it soars high into the sky in the first half of the night,' NASA says. adding that to find it, first locate its brightest star, Altair. 'It's one of the three bright stars in the Summer Triangle, which is super easy to pick out during summer months in the Northern Hemisphere. Altair is the second brightest of the three, and sits at the southernmost corner of the triangle.'
Check out the video for more details — including helpful images — on how to view Aquila and also the planets.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
New York Times
15 minutes ago
- New York Times
Fraudulent Scientific Papers Are Rapidly Increasing, Study Finds
For years, whistle-blowers have warned that fake results are sneaking into the scientific literature at an increasing pace. A new statistical analysis backs up the concern. A team of researchers found evidence of shady organizations churning out fake or low-quality studies on an industrial scale. And their output is rising fast, threatening the integrity of many fields. 'If these trends are not stopped, science is going to be destroyed,' said Luís A. Nunes Amaral, a data scientist at Northwestern University and an author of the study, which was published in the latest issue of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Science has made huge advances over the past few centuries only because new generations of scientists could read about the accomplishments of previous ones. Each time a new paper is published, other scientists can explore the findings and think about how to make their own discoveries. 'Science relies on trusting what others did, so you do not have to repeat everything,' Dr. Amaral said. By the 2010s, journal editors and watchdog organizations were warning that this trust was under threat. They flagged a growing number of papers with fabricated data and doctored images. In the years that followed, the factors driving this increase grew more intense. Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
Yahoo
17 minutes ago
- Yahoo
NASA Announces It Will Be Randomly Searching Employees
As NASA reels from massive budget cuts by Donald Trump's White House, the space agency seems to be clamping down hard on physical security measures. An internal memo shared by Keith Cowing, a former NASA astrobiologist who now blogs about the agency at NASA Watch, shows that all personnel and their property are now subject to random inspection by security officers. The random searches went into effect on July 30, the day the memo was sent out, and encompass the inspection of "individuals, belongings, and vehicles entering or exiting the premises" of all NASA centers. Employees at the NASA headquarters in Washington DC, sometimes called "the little White House," received a specific notice tailored to the facility. "When randomly selected in the West Lobby, individuals will be asked to walk through the metal detector," the memo declares, presumably addressing both incoming and outgoing workers. "In the East Lobby [home to the Earth Information Center], an officer will use a hand-held metal detector." "If the individual is carrying personal effects, those items will also be searched by the officer," it continues. Vehicles are likewise subject to random probes. "When randomly selected, individuals will be notified upon entry to pull over and asked to step out of the vehicle," the memo says. "Once the random search is complete, the individual will return to their vehicle and proceed to the parking garage. The estimated search time will be less than 5 minutes." That memo comes months after NASA was caught purchasing a license to use Clearview AI — a controversial digital surveillance startup — throughout its facilities. Random searches aren't necessarily unheard of in industries deemed critical for national development. Private companies like DOW Chemical, Genentech, and Lockheed Martin routinely engage in random employee inspections, often employing x-ray scanners, canines, and even autonomous drones to surveil workers. While the scrutiny may seem reasonable from a corporate point of view, random employee searches are legally dubious. They've led to lawsuits like Boutin v. Exxon Mobil Corp, in which a contract worker alleged Exxon had fired her in retaliation for complaining about sexual harassment on the job site, using a random inspection as justification. Some legal groups argue that employee inspections serve to reinforce employer's control over their workers, blurring the lines between personal and private property. Random searches are especially problematic, because the employer has no justification for suspecting the chosen workers of any type of misconduct. As far as NASA is concerned, the timing of the new security initiative is noteworthy, coming as thousands of senior employees are being asked to pack their bags and leave the agency for good. That in mind, it doesn't take a rocket scientist to see how NASA leadership could justify the move. For example, a career Extravehicular Activity Suit Systems Engineer might have few other job prospects outside of NASA, and insider secrets can fetch a pretty penny. (In 2023, a lawsuit filed in federal court accused Boeing of stealing "billions of dollars" worth of trade secrets related to NASA's Artemis program.) However, there's an easy way to prevent the leak of NASA secrets, as Cowing notes: "treat [your remaining workers] as the valuable individuals that they are — not sheep for you to scare whenever you get a memo from the White House." More on NASA: NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory Reportedly Holding "Going Out of Business Sale" for Satellites Solve the daily Crossword
Yahoo
18 minutes ago
- Yahoo
White House Orders NASA to Destroy Important Satellite
The White House has instructed NASA employees to terminate two major, climate change-focused satellite missions. As NPR reports, Trump officials reached out to the space agency to draw up plans for terminating the two missions, called the Orbiting Carbon Observatories. They've been collecting widely-used data, providing both oil and gas companies and farmers with detailed information about the distribution of carbon dioxide and how it can affect crop health. One is attached to the International Space Station, and the other is collecting data as a stand-alone satellite. The latter would meet its permanent demise after burning up in the atmosphere if the mission were to be terminated. We can only speculate as to why the Trump administration wants to end the missions. But considering president Donald Trump's staunch climate change denial and his administration's efforts to deal the agency's science directorate a potentially existential blow, it's not difficult to speculate. Worse yet, the two observatories had been expected to function for many more years, scientists working on them told NPR. A 2023 review by NASA concluded that the data they'd been providing had been "of exceptionally high quality." The observatories provide detailed carbon dioxide measurements across various locations, allowing scientists to get a detailed glimpse of how human activity is affecting greenhouse gas emissions. Former NASA employee David Crisp, who worked on the Orbiting Carbon Observatories' instruments, told NPR that current staffers reached out to him. "They were asking me very sharp questions," he said. "The only thing that would have motivated those questions was [that] somebody told them to come up with a termination plan." Crisp said it "makes no economic sense to terminate NASA missions that are returning incredibly valuable data," pointing out it costs only $15 million per year to maintain both observatories, a tiny fraction of the agency's $25.4 billion budget. Other scientists who've used data from the missions have also been asked questions related to terminating the missions. The two observatories are only two of dozens of space missions facing existential threats in the form of the Trump administration's proposed 2026 fiscal year budget. Countless scientists have been outraged by the proposal, arguing it could precipitate an end to the United States' leadership in space. Lawmakers have since drawn up a counteroffer that would keep NASA's budget roughly in line with this year's. "We rejected cuts that would have devastated NASA science by 47 percent and would have terminated 55 operating and planned missions," said senator and top appropriator Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) in a July statement, as quoted by Bloomberg. Simply terminating Earth-monitoring missions to pursue an anti-science agenda could be a massive self-own, lawmakers say — and potentially breaking laws as well by overriding existing, allocated budgets. "Eliminating funds or scaling down the operations of Earth-observing satellites would be catastrophic and would severely impair our ability to forecast, manage, and respond to severe weather and climate disasters," House representative and Committee on Science, Space and Technology ranking member Zoe Lofgren (D-CA) told NPR. "The Trump administration is forcing the proposed cuts in its FY26 budget request on already appropriated FY25 funds," she added. "This is illegal." More on NASA: NASA Announces It Will Be Randomly Searching Employees
