Phoenix from fire into ice

The Phoenix has landed! NASA’s latest Mars lander has survived the Mars curse and landed safely in the north polar region of the red planet, where it has been checking out its various tools and is just now getting started on its business of analyzing soil samples to learn about the past and present of water on Mars.

Phoenix’s mission is a short one – just three months, through September. After that, as sunlight wanes in the Martian autumn, Phoenix stops digging and turns to the easier work of broadcasting weather information. No one’s really sure how long it will last – once winter comes, there will be no sunlight at all falling on the solar panels, and since winters get COLD in the Martian Polar Regions, it’s not clear whether the batteries will survive until the spring.

Back here on Earth, we’ll see Jupiter at opposition on July 9. But it’s very low, barely over 30° up, so we won’t see as much detail as you might hope for during this opposition. Still, the beginning of Jupiter-watching season is always worth celebrating.

Mars and Saturn are both visible in early evening. They make a very close pass on the night of the 10th, down in the belly of Leo where there are so many interesting galaxies. In fact, they’re pretty close to M95, M96 and M105 (and assorted NGC galaxies nearby). Mars and Saturn are magnitudes 1.7 and 0.8 respectively – you don’t have to worry too much about spoiling your night vision if you take a little planet-break from galaxies every now and then.

Partway through July, Venus moves into the evening sky to join Mars and Saturn. It will remain for the rest of the year – a very long Venus season this time!

Mercury is bright in the dawn sky during the first half of the month.

Uranus, on the border between Aquarius and Pisces, and Neptune, in Capricornus, rise late in the evening and are high by morning. Pluto is better placed: it’s already up at sunset and transits a bit before midnight (though it’s fairly low in the south, at 35°), and it’s nicely placed a little less than 2° due north of open cluster M23. Of course, that also puts it right in the heart of the Milky Way, where there are lots of other stars to confuse the hunt. But that region also has lots of eye candy, so you’ll have a good time while you’re still hunting for Pluto.