Calendar Notes: ©2000 Sky Publishing Corp. All Rights Reserved

celestial calendar
ILLUSTRATION BY JAY RYAN, WWW.SKYWISE.COM

These predictions assume the Red Spot is at system, whereby 1:00 p.m. is called 13:00, 2:00 p.m.
calendar notes Jovian System II longitude 74°, the most recent is 14:00, and so on.
Occultations by the Moon. On the night of July value provided by John W. McAnally of the Asso- To convert a UT time and date to a standard
13–14, observers across most of the U.S. and pop- ciation of Lunar and Planetary Observers (www. time and date in North America, subtract the fol-
ulated Canada can see the dark limb of the wax- lpl.arizona.edu/alpo). lowing hours: to get Eastern Standard Time, 5;
ing gibbous Moon approach and then hide 4.9- Variable-star maxima. July 1, V Boötis, 142539, CST, 6; MST, 7; PST, 8; Alaska, 9; or Hawaii, 10. To
magnitude 58 Ophiuchi. The star winks out at 7.0; 15, T Cephei, 210868, 6.0 (see chart, Septem- obtain daylight saving time (“summer time”),
12:45 a.m. Eastern Daylight Time in Miami, 12:22 ber 1994, page 41); 17, T Hydrae, 085008, 7.8; 21, subtract one hour less than these values. If you get
in Atlanta, 12:34 in Washington, D.C., and 12:35 RS Herculis, 171723, 7.9; 23, RU Sagittarii, 195142, a negative number of hours, add 24; in this case
in Montreal. The disappearance occurs at 11:09 7.2; 28, RS Librae, 151822, 7.5; 31, R Octantis, the result is on the date before the UT date given.
p.m. CDT in Chicago, 9:35 p.m. MDT in Denver, 055686, 7.9. For example, 5:45 UT July 9th is 1:45 a.m. on
and 8:24 PDT in Los Angeles. The data above are, in order: the day of the the 9th EDT and 10:45 p.m. on the 8th PDT.
During the early-morning hours of July 28th, month near which the star should be at maxi- AstroAlert News Service. Amateurs every-
4.6-magnitude Chi (χ) Orionis reappears from be- mum brightness; the star’s name; its designation where are invited to join Sky & Telescope’s e-mail
hind the waning crescent Moon for the midwestern number, which gives rough equinox-1900.0 right network for quick notification of fleeting astro-
U.S. and western Canada. In Denver this occurs at ascension (first four digits) and declination (bold- nomical events. For example, time-critical obser-
4:27 a.m. MDT, in Vancouver 3:46 a.m. PDT. face if southern); and the star’s typical visual mag- vations are needed by professional astronomers if
Jupiter’s Red Spot. Here are the Universal dates nitude at peak brightness. The actual maximum and when the next supernova goes off in our
and times when the center of the Great Red Spot may be brighter or fainter and many days early or Milky Way or the Local Group. A bright comet
should cross Jupiter’s central meridian, the imagi- late. All predictions are by Janet Mattei using re- may suddenly appear, or a solar flare may mean
nary line down the center of the planet’s disk from cent data of the American Association of Variable that an auroral display is imminent.
pole to pole. The spot has been pale orange-tan in Star Observers, 25 Birch St., Cambridge, MA To begin receiving AstroAlert messages, visit
recent years. It appears slightly more distinct when 02138 (www.aavso.org). www.skypub.com/news/astroalert.html and follow
Jupiter is viewed through a light green or blue filter. Minima of Algol. July 3, 8:03; 6, 4:52; 9, 1:41; 11, the instructions. This service is further described
July 1, 0:45, 10:40, 20:36; 2, 6:32, 16:28; 3, 2:24, 22:29; 14, 19:18; 17, 16:07; 20, 12:55; 23, 9:44; 26, in the August 1999 issue, page 34.
12:19, 22:15; 4, 8:11, 18:07; 5, 4:02, 13:58, 23:54; 6, 6:32; 29, 3:21. Skyline: our telephone news service. To pro-
9:50, 19:46; 7, 5:41, 15:37; 8, 1:33, 11:29, 21:24; 9, These are the dates and times, in Universal vide all readers with access to fast-breaking news
7:20, 17:16; 10, 3:12, 13:08, 23:03; 11, 8:59, 18:55; 12, Time, when the eclipsing variable star Algol (β such as comet and nova discoveries, Sky & Tele-
4:51, 14:46; 13, 0:42, 10:38, 20:34; 14, 6:29, 16:25; 15, Persei) should be at its dimmest, magnitude 3.4 scope maintains Skyline, a dial-up news service.
2:21, 12:17, 22:13; 16, 8:08, 18:04; 17, 4:00, 13:56, instead of its usual 2.1. It is nearly this faint for The three-minute voice recording is updated eve-
23:51; 18, 9:47, 19:43; 19, 5:39, 15:34; 20, 1:30, 11:26, two hours, and it takes several hours to fade and ry Friday afternoon, or more often if news war-
21:22; 21, 7:17, 17:13; 22, 3:09, 13:05, 23:01; 23, 8:56, brighten. rants. Call 617-497-4168.
18:52; 24, 4:48, 14:44; 25, 0:39, 10:35, 20:31; 26, 6:27, Universal Time (UT or UTC) is used worldwide The Skyline text (“Weekly News Bulletin”) and
16:22; 27, 2:18, 12:14, 22:10; 28, 8:05, 18:01; 29, 3:57, by astronomers and others to avoid confusion be- much more can be found at our World Wide Web
13:53, 23:48; 30, 9:44, 19:40; 31, 5:36, 15:31. tween time zones. It is expressed in the 24-hour site, www.skypub.com.
108 July 2000 Sky & Telescope ©2000 Sky Publishing Corp. All rights reserved.

Calendar Notes: ©2000 Sky Publishing Corp. All Rights Reserved

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celestial calendar

ILLUSTRATION BY JAY RYAN, WWW.SKYWISE.COM

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