celestial calendar
ILLUSTRATION BY JAY RYAN, WWW.SKYWISE.COM
calendar notes
Occultations by the Moon. On the night of July
13–14, observers across most of the U.S. and pop-
ulated Canada can see the dark limb of the wax-
ing gibbous Moon approach and then hide 4.9-
magnitude 58 Ophiuchi. The star winks out at
12:45 a.m. Eastern Daylight Time in Miami, 12:22
in Atlanta, 12:34 in Washington, D.C., and 12:35
in Montreal. The disappearance occurs at 11:09
p.m. CDT in Chicago, 9:35 p.m. MDT in Denver,
and 8:24 PDT in Los Angeles.
During the early-morning hours of July 28th,
4.6-magnitude Chi (χ) Orionis reappears from be-
hind the waning crescent Moon for the midwestern
U.S. and western Canada. In Denver this occurs at
4:27 a.m. MDT, in Vancouver 3:46 a.m. PDT.
Jupiter’s Red Spot. Here are the Universal dates
and times when the center of the Great Red Spot
should cross Jupiter’s central meridian, the imagi-
nary line down the center of the planet’s disk from
pole to pole. The spot has been pale orange-tan in
recent years. It appears slightly more distinct when
Jupiter is viewed through a light green or blue filter.
July 1, 0:45, 10:40, 20:36; 2, 6:32, 16:28; 3, 2:24,
12:19, 22:15; 4, 8:11, 18:07; 5, 4:02, 13:58, 23:54; 6,
9:50, 19:46; 7, 5:41, 15:37; 8, 1:33, 11:29, 21:24; 9,
7:20, 17:16; 10, 3:12, 13:08, 23:03; 11, 8:59, 18:55; 12,
4:51, 14:46; 13, 0:42, 10:38, 20:34; 14, 6:29, 16:25; 15,
2:21, 12:17, 22:13; 16, 8:08, 18:04; 17, 4:00, 13:56,
23:51; 18, 9:47, 19:43; 19, 5:39, 15:34; 20, 1:30, 11:26,
21:22; 21, 7:17, 17:13; 22, 3:09, 13:05, 23:01; 23, 8:56,
18:52; 24, 4:48, 14:44; 25, 0:39, 10:35, 20:31; 26, 6:27,
16:22; 27, 2:18, 12:14, 22:10; 28, 8:05, 18:01; 29, 3:57,
13:53, 23:48; 30, 9:44, 19:40; 31, 5:36, 15:31.
108 July 2000 Sky & Telescope
These predictions assume the Red Spot is at
Jovian System II longitude 74°, the most recent
value provided by John W. McAnally of the Asso-
ciation of Lunar and Planetary Observers (www.
lpl.arizona.edu/alpo).
Variable-star maxima. July 1, V Boötis, 142539,
7.0; 15, T Cephei, 210868, 6.0 (see chart, Septem-
ber 1994, page 41); 17, T Hydrae, 085008, 7.8; 21,
RS Herculis, 171723, 7.9; 23, RU Sagittarii, 195142,
7.2; 28, RS Librae, 151822, 7.5; 31, R Octantis,
055686, 7.9.
The data above are, in order: the day of the
month near which the star should be at maxi-
mum brightness; the star’s name; its designation
number, which gives rough equinox-1900.0 right
ascension (first four digits) and declination (bold-
face if southern); and the star’s typical visual mag-
nitude at peak brightness. The actual maximum
may be brighter or fainter and many days early or
late. All predictions are by Janet Mattei using re-
cent data of the American Association of Variable
Star Observers, 25 Birch St., Cambridge, MA
02138 (www.aavso.org).
Minima of Algol. July 3, 8:03; 6, 4:52; 9, 1:41; 11,
22:29; 14, 19:18; 17, 16:07; 20, 12:55; 23, 9:44; 26,
6:32; 29, 3:21.
These are the dates and times, in Universal
Time, when the eclipsing variable star Algol (β
Persei) should be at its dimmest, magnitude 3.4
instead of its usual 2.1. It is nearly this faint for
two hours, and it takes several hours to fade and
brighten.
Universal Time (UT or UTC) is used worldwide
by astronomers and others to avoid confusion be-
tween time zones. It is expressed in the 24-hour
©2000 Sky Publishing Corp. All rights reserved.
system, whereby 1:00 p.m. is called 13:00, 2:00 p.m.
is 14:00, and so on.
To convert a UT time and date to a standard
time and date in North America, subtract the fol-
lowing hours: to get Eastern Standard Time, 5;
CST, 6; MST, 7; PST, 8; Alaska, 9; or Hawaii, 10. To
obtain daylight saving time (“summer time”),
subtract one hour less than these values. If you get
a negative number of hours, add 24; in this case
the result is on the date before the UT date given.
For example, 5:45 UT July 9th is 1:45 a.m. on
the 9th EDT and 10:45 p.m. on the 8th PDT.
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