StarWatch: Moravian University Astronomy

StarWatch for the greater Lehigh Valley

JULY 2026

JULY STAR MAP | MOON PHASE CALENDAR | STARWATCH INDEX | NIGHT SKY NOTEBOOK

CURRENT MOON PHASE

1559 JULY 5, 2026: Dark Sky Fix in Arches: There are some people who need extreme forms of "entertainment" to feel alive, but as an astronomy enthusiast, simply provide me with a dark sky to view, photograph, and contemplate my place in the universe. Dark skies are becoming increasingly difficult to find these days, but there are still accessible locales where the stars shine unimpeded by the lights of civilization, and imaginations can soar on gilded wings. That wish for a dark sky fix came true in several locations in the Southwest during June, when friends Peter Detterline, Cesare Guariniello, Principal Research Scholar at Purdue University, and I traveled to Arches National Park near Moab and the Mars Desert Research Station near Hanksville, both in Utah. Then Pete and I continued our journey to the Sangre de Cristo Mountains in central Colorado to visit a mutual friend, Joe Smith, who abides in a comfortable home at an elevation of 9,200 feet. * Clear skies to mostly clear skies were abundant on virtually every evening, so needless to say that sleeping was in a deficit by the time we reached home on June 24, a day shy of my 44 wedding anniversary. * Considering the three sites, Arches proved to be the darkest even with a minimal dome of light created by the town of Moab, brightening a small section of the southeastern horizon. Thankfully, we missed the smoke from the fires in Utah that were just beginning to ignite at the end of our trip. * At Arches, we considered a number of options for sky watching, but eventually chose Panorama Point, a heavily trafficked tourist destination, to view sundown and the darkening heavens. The site remained busy up until midnight, when the scores of trucks, campers, vans, and cars that had passed through the area dissipated, leaving only four vehicles with their stalwart travelers. I originally thought that the countless passing headlights would have dampened the brilliance of the sky, but we easily got used to shutting our eyes for that brief moment of light insanity to maintain our dark adaptation. * Pete and I imaged the Arches' sky with our automated telescope systems, Pete's Dwarf 3 and my Seestar 30 Pro, while Cesare diligently scanned the heavens with binoculars. Peter chose to set up his unit among the hardy, drought-resistant Mormon tea bushes about 60 feet from my Jeep to shield it from passing car lights. I decided to use my Jeep as a light shield, attaching my Seestar to a sturdy, 3D-printed, extremely portable equatorial mount with a flat base, given to me by Terry Pundiak. The mount facing north was set on a small, foldable plastic step stool with a rubberized surface, bubble-leveled with tiny, flat sandstone pieces that Cesare found just off the sidewalk. To add to the craziness, a four-pound counterweight was placed on the mounting platform to improve stability, and a compact 5.5-amp-hour portable battery was attached to the Seestar and placed on the concrete sidewalk to keep the telescope 100 percent charged at all times. If someone had told me a year ago that this Rube Goldberg apparatus would have any chance of succeeding, I would have simply laughed, opting for a more conventional setup. However, there I was, starting about midnight on a warm parking lot, taking what I considered to be wonderful images of the North American Nebula, then later in the morning the Andromeda Galaxy. We photographed until just after 4 a.m., when Saturn, Mars, and the thin crescent moon rose, and dawn's earliest light began to encroach in the northeast, interrupting our photography and sending our weary party back to Moab's empty streets for some much-needed rest. My two Seestar Arches images can be found below. Ad Astra!

JULY 12, 2026: It's HOT on Mars

1561 JULY 19, 2026:

1562 JULY 26, 2026:

[July Star Map]

[July Moon Phase Calendar]