I never though to do this but, I write a star column for a local landowners association and am posting it here. It's bi-monthly and if I get a few likes I'll post every time I write it. I hope you find it interesting

ARIZONA SKIES by Al Schober

 Hello everybody. Well the world has gone crazy since I last wrote a column but the stars are always there for us to enjoy.  In my almost 70 years of looking upward I have seen some amazing sights through a telescope and also with just my eyes, so keep looking up, you never know what you'll see.

 Venus, lovely Venus, is gone from the western sky after sunset for the rest of the year.  It passed between the earth and the sun on June 3rd.  After that it will emerge in the morning sky fairly rapidly. By the middle of June you can catch Venus low in the eastern sky right before sunrise. It gains in altitude each day and by mid July rises two and a half hours before the sun and becomes quite brilliant.

 Mercury is not much talked about because it is difficult to see being always close to the sun in the sky.  In June you can catch a glimpse of Mercury after sunset in the northwestern sky if you look closely.  Mercury is at it's greatest distance from the sun on June 4th setting almost 2 hours after sunset. It's not bright like Venus or Jupiter so look for a “star” low in the sky that appears about as bright as the brighter stars and that will be Mercury. If you know the sky, the first magnitude star Capella is low in the northwestern sky and Mercury will be to it's left.  Capella will be brighter than Mercury.

 The really good show is rising after midnight with the appearance of Jupiter and Saturn. In June they both rise about two hours after sunset and earlier every night thereafter.  Jupiter will rise with the sunset on July 13th and Saturn rises with sunset on July 20th.  Both of these giant planets will be in our sky for the rest of the year hovering east of the milky way.

 Next is Mars, rising around midnight in June and eleven pm in July. Mars now is a dull ruddy color and will increase in brightness to rival Jupiter when it comes to opposition in October of this year. If you will remember two years ago, Mars came close to the earth and was a fantastic sight in the sky. This year it approaches at only a little less distance so will again put on a great show.  Last time as it came near the earth there appeared a giant dust storm on the planet so the view through a telescope was disappointing to say the least. No polar caps, no dark areas to be seen on the planet's disk.  These dust storms are seasonal on Mars and this time there are none predicted.  Lets hope that prediction is accurate.

 Now for a quiz:  How many comets do you think astronomers are following in the sky this spring?  If you guessed 5, 10, 15, 20, 25 30, you are wrong. There are 50 comets in the sky right now that can be followed if you know where to look for them. BUT, you need a fairly large amateur telescope and very accurate sky maps.  Most comets are just small fuzzballs even in a telescope.  Only when they approach the sun in the inner solar system can they be seen as a brighter fuzzy object with possibly a short tail in a telescope or binoculars. F8 SWAN – V6 LEMMON – T2 Pan Starrs – F3 Neowise – Y4 ATLAS – Y 1 Atlas.  These are the comets in the sky now that can be seen in a small telescope and even maybe binoculars but ya gotta know where they are. O well, they're just a small blob of mist in the eyepiece anyway.  But wait, F3 Neowise will approach to within 27 million miles of the sun on July 3rd.  Now that's not really that close but this comet just might be able to be seen in the northwestern sky after sunset.  Look with binoculars low in the sky after dark and maybe you can catch Neowise. It will not be very bright and it will be climbing higher in the sky away from the sun but getting dimmer as it climbs.  Good hunting.

 Any comments or questions can be e-mailed to me at   skiesofarizona@hotmail.com