Get ready for the first summer full moon on July 7. This full moon is the Hay or Thunder moon, depending on the culture. The last three weeks of July will be good times for deep sky observing, with no moon or a waxing crescent.

Take a peek at Saturn, named for the god of time (Chronos in Greek) because he moves so slowly. It disappears into the Sun's glare by the month's end, so observe it early in July right after sunset, before it gets too low. Saturn's rings are almost edge-on at its 2009 equinox, a fine view not to be repeated for another 15 years.

Overhead, the Big Dipper rides high at sunset, but falls lower in NW each evening. Good scouts know to take its leading pointers north to Polaris, the famed Pole Star. If you drop south from the bowl of the Big Dipper, Leo the Lion is in the SW. Saturn lies just below the right triangle that marks the lion's hindquarters. Note the Egyptian Sphinx is based on the shape of this Lion in the sky. Taking the arc in the Dipper's handle, we "arc" SE to bright orange Arcturus, the brightest star of Spring. Cooler than our yellow Sun, and much poorer in heavy elements, some believe its strange motion reveals it to be an invading star from another smaller galaxy, now colliding with the Milky Way in Sagittarius in the summer sky. Moving almost perpendicular to the plane of our Milky Way, Arcturus was the first star in the sky where its proper motion across the historic sky was noted, by Edmund Halley.

For the first time in five years since Hurricane Ivan, the Escambia Amateur Astronomers returned to Ft. Pickens in June. They will return again on Friday, July 17, setting up about sunset.

"We saw Messier 104, the famed "Sombrero Galaxy," very well in our first Sky Interpretation of 2009, at Ft. Pickens' Battery Worth picnic area on Friday, June 19, as well as many other dark sky objects," praises Dr. Wayne Wooten, Professor of Astronomy at PJC.

The astrophoto published with this article is of Messier 104, a dusty galaxy comparable to our Milky Way. It has a bright central bulge comparable to the center of our own Galaxy, visible with the naked eyes in Sagittarius later in July evenings.

The brightest star of the northern hemisphere, Vega (from Carl Sagan's novel and movie, "Contact"), rises in the NE as twilight deepens. Twice as hot as our Sun, it appears blue-white, like most bright stars. At the bottom of the parallogram of Lyra is the famed Ring Nebula, M - 57. This planetary nebula is easy to find in small scopes midway between the two bottom stars of Lyra.

The astrophoto above is of Messier 104, the famed "Sombrero Galaxy," a dusty galaxy comparable to our Milky Way. The photo was taken during the June 19 Sky Interpretation at Ft. Pickens' Battery Worth picnic area, and it marked the first such sky-gazing gathering since Hurricane Ivan nearly five years ago. Later in the July evenings, giant Jupiter dominates the SE sky. It rises about 9 p.m. by midmonth in Capricornus, and is at opposition in mid August, rising at sunset. Any small scope will reveal what Galileo marveled at in 1609; four large moons, all bigger or similar to ours in size, orbit it in a line along Jupiter's equator. So get out the old scope, and focus on Jupiter for a constantly changing dance of the moons around the giant world.

Though the new moon on July 22 is very important in Asia, as it will produce the longest total solar eclipse of this century from India through China, we will have to wait until August 21, 2017 to witness a totality half that long in the U.S. for an early afternoon date with darkness.

While the naked eye, dark adapted by several minutes away from any bright lights, is a wonderful instrument to stare up into deep space, far beyond our own Milky Way, binoculars are better for spotting specific deep sky objects. For a detailed map of northern hemisphere skies, visit the www.skymaps.com website and download the map for July 2009; it will have a more extensive calendar, and list of best objects for the naked eyes, binoculars, and scopes on the back of the map. Also available as the next month begins is wonderful video exploring the July 2009 sky, featuring many different objects, available from the Hubble Space Telescope website at: http://hubblesite. org/explore_astronomy/t onights_sky/.

Escambia Amateur Astronomers plan revisit the Ft. Pickens gate again this summer, with gazes set for July 17, August 14, September 18, and October 6. And they take astronomy to the sidewalks at the Gulfside Performance Pavilion in Pensacola Beach on June 26- 27, July 24-25, August 28-29, and September 25-26. The sidewalk sessions feature the waxing moon in the evening sky as well. Bring along your digital cameras to capture the rings of Saturn, Jupiter and moons, dozens of satellites gliding overhead, galaxies, clusters, and other cool stuff off our live video feed from the large telescopes used there.

For more information on the Escambia Amateur Astronomers, visit the website at www.eaaa.net , or call sponsor, Dr. Wayne Wooten at PJC at (850) 484-1152, or email him at wwooten@pjc.edu. 2009 marks the 33rd year that amateur astronomers have hosted beachside gazes as volunteers for the National Park Service at Fort Pickens, and we are delighted to be back at the dark skies of Battery Worth this year.