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| THE COLONY NEWS | JULY 2023 | 17 In Memoriam Helga Cichlar • Beverly Beggs By Mike Vergara, 951- 461-2889 It's July, and the summer night sky is in full swing! Sadly, the only planets visible are very low in the west at sunset (Venus) or aren't high enough for viewing until the wee hours of the morning (Jupiter). I mentioned this last summer, but it's worth repeating. Our local astronomy club, the Temecula Valley Astronomers, holds a star party (weather permitting) every Friday evening at South Coast Winery in the Temecula Wine Country. They set up about sunset and often stay until 10 pm or so. I understand there is a pretty good restaurant there as well, so if you're looking for something to do, dinner and stargazing could make for a memorable evening! If you go, ask to see the Ring Nebula, the Hercules Cluster, or the star Alberio. These are some of my favorite summertime objects. The Ring Nebula, located in the constellation of Lyra, is the outer shell of a star that died but wasn't big enough to explode. The Hercules Cluster (in the constellation of Hercules) is a globular cluster of stars that orbits our Milky Way galaxy. It's like seeing a sprinkle of crystals in the sky. Alberio is a double star in the constellation Cygnus and is strikingly colorful. One star is yellow and the other is a bright blue. While these two stars appear close together, astronomers aren't really sure if they are a true double star or are simply a visual double (two stars that appear close as we view them but are not really bound together). July's full moon, the "Full Buck Moon" or the "Full Thunder Moon," is on Monday, July 3. This year, it's a perigean full moon so it will be bigger and brighter than a normal full moon. The media refer to this as a supermoon, but I personally abhor that term. To find where the planets and constellations are, visit http://skymaps.com/index.html. From there you can print your own map of the sky for the month. Clear skies! the Night sky the Night sky

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