Hello ...
Here's your Cosmic Pursuits newsletter for July 2025!
1. The Milky Way takes center stage as the new season gets underway, and deep-sky observers finally get to surf the hundreds of star clusters and nebulae along what the ancient Chinese poets called the ‘Silver River’. Mercury and Mars linger low in the west after sunset. Venus, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune call to early-morning observers to look towards the eastern sky before sunrise. And, as the month
comes to a close, a fine meteor shower sends tiny bits of celestial flotsam to burn up in our skies to the southeast. Here's what to see in the Night Sky This Month...
2. Astronomers released the first few images from the astonishing Vera Rubin telescope last month. I have no words to describe them. This telescope will image the entire southern sky every few nights and compile a motion picture of anything and everything that changes in the night sky, from passing asteroids to supernovae, and from variable stars to the behavior of dark energy. It's the "greatest astronomical discovery machine ever built",
said one astronomer. And - oh my - the images! See them for yourself, and learn more about this amazing instrument at this excellent article at the New York Times (gift link).
3. At midsummer, it's never dark enough at my location for stargazing. Instead, I'm touring the deep sky with the help of some mesmerizing simulated tours of a few well-known constellations. Even Star Trek never showed the universe like this. Let's crank the
speed up to Warp 10 and have a look at the stars of Taurus, Orion, and Sagittarius in 3D thanks to the Gaia space telescope.
4. The European Space Agency's Solar Orbiter spacecraft shows the
first-ever view of the sun's south pole.
5. Don't panic - but the Earth will run out of oxygen one day (not soon). The cause? Global warming. But not that kind of global warming. Here's how it
will play out...
And the astronomy quote of the month - a little motivation for all of us to get out and see the night sky:
"My dear Kepler, what would you say of the learned here, who, replete with the pertinacity of the
asp, have steadfastly refused to cast a glance through the telescope? What shall we make of this? Shall we laugh, or shall we cry?"
- Galileo
Please share this email with anyone who may be interested. If you're not already a subscriber to Cosmic Pursuits, you can sign up here.
Wishing you clear skies!
Brian Ventrudo
Publisher
CosmicPursuits.com
