July 2008 Monthly Sky Guide

Jupiter remains king of the night sky during July. It reaches opposition on the 9th and reaches its highest point in the sky before midnight late in the month.

With its numerous moons and several rings, the Jupiter system is a "mini-solar system." Jupiter is the most massive planet in our solar system, and in composition it resembles a small star. In fact, if Jupiter had been between fifty and one hundred times more massive, it would have become a star rather than a planet.

Learn more about the planet Jupiter and take a solar system tour.

Check out this map for the month of July, or create your own customized map with our Free Sky Maps tool.

Note: This map is for a median time and location and July have slight differences from your location and viewing time. Planets and moons shown on this map will have the highest probability of appearing in different locations.

Use this handy Sky Map Symbols Key to figure out what you should be looking for.

Check out our Astronomical Events Calendar to learn about other happenings in space and on Earth. Here is a sampling of highlights.

• 1: Mercury At Its Greatest Western Elongation (22 Degrees)
• 1: Moon at Perigee
• 4: Earth At Aphelion (1.017 AU From Sun)
• 9: Jupiter At Opposition
• 13 - 18: 10th Annual Asteroids, Comets, Meteors Meeting, Baltimore, Maryland
• 14: Moon at apogee
• 21 - 25: Cool Stars 15 Meeting, St. Andrews, Scotland

This month, the constellation Draco can be seen high in the sky. Let's take a closer look at Draco.

• The Dragon
• Genitive: Draconis
• Abbreviations: Dra, Drac
• Right Ascension, (h): 17
• Declination, (deg): 65N

Born on August 5, 1930 on his grandparents’ farm in Auglaize County, Ohio, Neil Armstrong was the eldest of three children of Stephen and Viola Engel Armstrong. Neil Armstrong worked at numerous jobs around town and at the nearby airport so he could start taking flying lessons at the age of 15 and on his 16th birthday he was issued a pilot's license. Neil Armstrong became the first man on the moon on July 20, 1969 durin the Apollo 11 mission.

Check every day to learn what happened "This Day in History."

• 1: 1994 - Hubble Space Telescope - USA & Europe Telescope photographed the collision of Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 with Jupiter.
• 6: 1997 - Mars Pathfinder's rover, a six-wheel rover named Sojourner, rolled onto the Martian surface at about 05:40 UT
• 16: 1969 - Apollo 11 launched.
• 20: 1969 - Apollo 11 (Crew: Neil A. Armstrong, Edwin E. Aldrin, Jr., Michael Collins) landed. Apollo 11 was the first manned lunar landing.