Welcome to Observing With Webb, where a high school astronomy teacher tells you what you’re looking at, why it’s so cool, and what you should check out later this month…at night. Don’t forget to check out my Podbean page, YouTube Channel, and Twitter feed, or get my podcast feed on Stitcher, or iTunes.
August, even with very short nights, will be a great month for watching the four brightest naked-eye planets at sunset, the usual close encounters, and the annual Perseid Meteor Shower.
Naked-eye PLANETS...
Mercury
Venus
Mars
Jupiter
Saturn
EVENTS...
Last Quarter Moon – 4th (Visible from midnight into the morning)
New Moon – 11th (darkest skies) – Partial Solar Eclipse (but only for Greenland, northern Europe, northeast Asia)
12th – 13th – Perseid Meteor Shower – This definitely a great year for the Perseids, given the just-past-new Moon phase. In dark skies there will be about 60 meteors per hour. Remember, you’re seeing the bits of dust left over from Comet Swift-Tuttle burning up as they crash into the atmosphere at 37 miles per second.
Some advice for watching:
14th – Close Encounter – Moon, Venus – If you have a clear view of the horizon in the West, you can catch a thin crescent Moon only 5˚ from Venus on the 14th. Last month, this encounter was particularly breathtaking, as they were closer together, and many people were sharing their sighting on social media.
17th – Close Encounter – Moon, Jupiter – Find the Moon around sunset and you’ll also find Jupiter about 3.5˚ below, with dimmer Zubenelgenubi (Libra’s brightest star), just 0.5˚ below Jupiter.
First Quarter Moon – 18th (Visible until midnight)
21st – Close Encounter – Moon, Saturn – Find the Moon after sunset and you’ll also find Saturn only 3˚ to the right. A great chance to see two really bright objects right near each other, with the teapot of Sagittarius right below.
23rd – Close Encounter – Moon, Mars – Find the Moon after sunset and you’ll also find Mars about 6˚ below.
Full Moon – 26th (Visible all night)
CONSTELLATIONS... (see sky map link at the bottom for a Star Map for this month – or ask Mr. Webb) Look straight up and you'll see...
Just after Sunset (around 8:30pm) – Hercules. Hercules has an Extra Challenge! Look for M13, the Hercules Cluster in between two of Hercules’ “keystone” stars. It known as the best globular cluster in the northern skies. It will be a fuzzy spot in binoculars and will be even cooler through a telescope
Extra Challenge! Use binoculars (or even a telescope) and a star chart to scan through the southern constellation of Sagittarius. There are at least 7 easily visible clusters and nebulas up and to the right of the “teapot” of Sagittarius.
Midnight – Lyra, Cygnus, Aquila (a little to the south) – These are the Summer constellations, and since they are visible right above us around midnight (and to the east after sunset), it’s now summer! More details below in the “General Constellation Finding Tips”
Early Morning – Pegasus, Andromeda Extra Challenge! Using your naked eye (dark-adapted and in a dark area) or binoculars under normal conditions and a star chart, try finding our neighboring Andromeda Galaxy. It’ll be a faint, but bigger, fuzzy in the constellation Andromeda
Summer Constellations: Lyra, Cygnus, Aquila, Delphinus
Look to the southeast after sunset or straight up around midnight and you’ll be able to see Lyra (the Harp), Cygnus (the Swan), Aquila (the Eagle), (and Delphinus the Dolphin.) These three constellations have the three brightest stars of the summer constellations (Vega, Deneb, Altair – respectively.) Those bright stars create the summer triangle. Off to the east of this is the small but beautiful constellation of Delphinus.
Spring Constellations: Bootes, Virgo, Leo, Corona Borealis, Hercules.
First find the Big Dipper in the North (a North Circumpolar Asterism that never sets) and look at the handle. Starting at the star closest to the “cup” part, follow the rest of the stars in the handle and follow the arc to Arcturus. Arcturus is the brightest star in Bootes the Shepherd. Some say he looks more like a kite, others say more like an ice cream cone.
Then, following the same “arc”, speed on to Spica. Spica is the brightest star in Virgo. Virgo’s a dimmer constellation, so you’ll be rewarded when you find her.
To the left of Bootes is Corona Borealis. This is a small collection of stars that make a crown, cup, or U shape in the sky.
To the left of Corona Borealis is the great constellation of Hercules. Hercules is the Hero of the sky and has a central “keystone” asterism, in which lies M13, the Hercules Cluster.
Lastly, Leo is a constellation consisting of a backward question mark (or sickle) and a right triangle to the left. Use the two Big Dipper “cup” stars that are in the middle of the Big Dipper and follow the line they make to the bright star Regulus, the brightest star in Leo.
Use a sky map from www.skymaps.com to help you out
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