(Image ©Noeleen Lowndes)
Ready for the best shooting stars of the year? August night sky brings the famous Perseid Meteor Shower, followed by the Full Sturgeon Moon. Plus, there’s a chance that a “new” star will appear in the night sky. Here is everything worth watching, including many picturesque planet-Moon pairings and suggestions for telescopic observations. Improve your sightseeing with our state-of-the-art telescopes at Stellara. For more information, visit https://visitstellara.com/listings/, especially if you’re exploring scenic spots like the Smoky Mountains in Tennessee.
August Night Sky Guide
All times and positions are listed in Eastern time, 40 degrees north of the equator—unless otherwise specified. If you see the terms sunset, midnight, sunrise or local time, this is true no matter where you are located (no need to add or subtract for your time zone).
🔭 August 1 – Jupiter and Mars
Look west one to two hours before sunrise to see Jupiter and Mars together in the early morning sky. Mars lies about five degrees north of the similarly bright and orange hued star Aldebaran and about six degrees west (upper right) of Jupiter.
Over the course of the next couple weeks, Mars will appear to get closer and closer to Jupiter. By August 14 they will engage in a rather tight conjunction.
The best time for telescopic views of Jupiter this month is early in morning twilight, when the planet is 30 degrees to 50 degrees high in the eastern sky.
Jupiter comes up at around two in the morning (daylight-saving time) as August begins, and around midnight at month’s end. The bright planet brightens marginally, from magnitude -2.1 to -2.3, while inching slowly away from Aldebaran and the Hyades in Taurus.
As for Mars, it appears as an extra 1st-magnitude “star” in Taurus, well up in the east as morning twilight begins.
🔭 August 4 – New Moon and Venus
The new Moon occurs at 7:13 a.m. EDT. The days before and after a new Moon are excellent for stargazing.
Venus is a dazzling magnitude -3.9 but looks much fainter because it is surrounded by bright twilight. Bring binoculars because it’s only about 4 degrees high even just 20 minutes after the Sun goes down as seen from latitude 40 degrees north.
If you live in the South, Venus will appear significantly higher in the sky. For instance, Venus appears nearly twice as high above the west-northwest horizon at dusk seen from Miami as it does from New York City.
The real challenge this evening is also sighting the 1st-magnitude star Regulus, hovering one degree to the lower left of Venus. But this star shines only 1/126 as bright as Venus.
August 5 – Mercury Retrograde, Venus Kisses the Moon
Mercury retrograde begins today (and lasts until August 28, 2024)
Up for a challenge? Look west immediately following sunset today. See if you can catch Venus along with a hairline thin (one percent illuminated) waxing crescent Moon.
At the beginning of August, Venus disappears over the horizon about 45 minutes after the Sun (and one hour after the Sun toward the month’s end).
August 6 – Vega
Passing overhead this week at around 11 p.m. local daylight time, is the brightest star of the Summer Triangle, brilliant bluish-white Vega (pronounced vee-ga, not vay-ga). Vega, just 25 light years away, also belongs to the constellation Lyra, the Lyre.
Interestingly, Vega was the first star to be photographed, in July 1850 at Harvard Observatory. Using the daguerreotype process, it took an exposure of 100 seconds to capture an image. Two fainter stars form a small triangle with Vega. One of these also joins three others in a parallelogram, a rather uninspiring star pattern.
However, try to make a concerted effort to locate Epsilon Lyrae, the other faint star in the Lyra triangle. Here lies much more than meets the eye. Appearing to the average person as a single star, it may be seen as a double-star by those with exceptional vision. The two stars seem to be separated by just over one-tenth of the apparent diameter of the full Moon. Through binoculars, Epsilon Lyrae easily splits into two stars.
But if you use a three-inch (or larger) telescope you’ll see that these two stars are themselves both doubles! That makes four stars for Epsilon Lyrae, known as the “Double-double” star in Lyra.
⭐ August 11-13 – Shooting Stars in the August Sky!
Every August, many people vacation where skies are dark to see the best-known annual meteor shower.
This year, these shooting stars should reach peak activity on Sunday and Monday nights, August 11-12 and 12-13. The first-quarter Moon will set during the late evening hours, leaving the sky nicely dark for the prime meteor watching hours from about midnight until the first glimmer of dawn. We particularly suggest 1-3 a.m. local time.
During those after-midnight hours the shower’s radiant point, located between Perseus and Cassiopeia (a W-shaped constellation), will be getting high in the northeast. Meteors should flash across all parts of the sky at a rate of about one every minute or two (as seen by a single observer). Rates are less before midnight, even without moonlight.
If you live under moderate light pollution, as unfortunately most of us do, you may still catch at least the brightest of the Perseids. Fortunately, the Perseids stay active for several days before and a day or two after their peak, and an occasional one may be seen almost anytime during the month of August.
Note: An official Perseid is a meteor whose path, if traced backward across the sky, intersects a spot between the constellations Perseus and Cassiopeia. Other “sporadic” meteors traveling in random directions occur once every 5 or 10 minutes.
No previous shooting star experience is required for watching the Perseids! Just find a spot with a wide-open sky view and no late-night lights nearby. Bundle up warmly, lie back on a ground pad (or in a sleeping bag or on a reclining lawn chair), and watch the stars. Also cover exposed parts of your body with mosquito repellent so you won’t get bit.
Be patient and give your eyes sufficient time to dark adapt. The direction to watch is not necessarily toward Perseus but wherever your sky is darkest, probably straight up.
August 12 – First Quarter Moon
The first quarter Moon occurs at 11:19 a.m. EDT.
⭐ August 14 – Mars Kisses Jupiter Between The Bull’s Horns
Jupiter and Mars can be viewed in the same medium-power telescope field this morning as they will be separated by only 20 arc minutes (0.33 degrees).
Compare the relatively tiny disk of Mars with that of Jupiter’s, which will appear some six times wider. Mars’ rapid motion carries it eight degrees east of Jupiter by August 31. (See illustration of Mars on August 27 for reference.)
August 18 – Mercury Conjunction
Today, Mercury is at an inferior conjunction with the Sun. This means that Mercury is currently between the Earth and the Sun in its orbit. From our perspective on Earth, Mercury is lost in the bright glow of the Sun (and unable to be seen).
⭐ August 19 – Full Sturgeon Moon – Supermoon
The Full Sturgeon Moon reaches peak illumination at 2:26 p.m. EDT. This full Moon will be the first of four in a row.
🔭 August 20 – Saturn Kisses the Moon
Look east (east-southeast) after dark to see Saturn kissing the Moon. (They will be less than one degree apart.) By late evening, Saturn is considerably high for good telescopic observing—a bright, sedate point of light poised against the dim stars of Aquarius, the Water Carrier. Saturn doesn’t transit the meridian (reach its highest point in the sky) until well after midnight local daylight-saving time, giving you ample time to get it in your sights.
August 26 – Last Quarter Moon
The last quarter Moon occurs at 5:26 a.m. EDT.
⭐ August 27 – Mars, Moon, Jupiter Triangle
Look east from 1 a.m. until sunrise to see the Moon forming a triangle configuration with Jupiter and Mars.
Jupiter is five degrees below the Moon, while Mars will be nine degrees to the lower left of the Moon.
August 28 – Mercury Retrograde Ends
Today Mercury goes “direct” which means that the planet is no longer in retrograde motion.
August 29 – Mercury
Using binoculars, look east about one hour before sunrise. Low on the horizon (a little north of due east) you may see Mercury shining at +1.3-magnitude.
Getting higher and brighter each morning in the August sky, Mercury will be an easy-to-spot naked-eye object on September 1, when it will sit four degrees to the lower right of a very thin crescent Moon.
Source: Farmersalmanac.com | Author: Joe Rao, he serves as an instructor and guest lecturer at New York’s Hayden Planetarium
