But outer Space, At least this far, For all the fuss, Of the populace, Stays more popular, Than populous. – Robert Frost
For a great website to locate the planets, go to www.nightskyinfo.com. This site will tell you about the planets and give you a good star map to locate them (116).
Sunset Sky: (Sunset until 11 p.m.)
Just as the skies begin to get dark enough to see the brightest stars, we can already see Jupiter shining brightly high in the southeast. We are losing Saturn in the early sunset sky. Through a small telescope or pair of binoculars you can see the four Galilean moons and cloud belts which encircle the planet. This past weekend, we had a group of Civil Air Partol cadets at Richard B. Russell airport looking at Jupiter. Over the 2.5 hours of our observing session the cadets noticed that they could actually see that a couple of the moons had changed positions. The Galilean moons move fast enough to see a position change if you look over an hour or so.
Mercury and Saturn were too low to the western horizon to be seen. I doubt if you will be able to see them this week but if you have clear skies in the west and a good low horizon, you may yet get a glimpse of them.
Late Evening (11 p.m. until 4 a.m.):
Uranus and Neptune are both up this time of the evening. You will need a good star map and telescope to capture these gems.
Predawn Sky: (4 a.m. until sunrise)
Around 6:00 a.m. (your time), the sky is bracketed by Jupiter to the west and Venus to the east. Venus is very bright and unmistakable in its splendor. In between these two treasures you will find the Red Planet, Mars. Mars is not as bright as either of the two bookends but it is still a good sight, none the less. Since it is fairly far away from Earth right now, you will not be able to see much detail but it is still worth a look through a telescope. By January, it will be quite a bit closer and we will be able to see more features on its surface then.
Monday (31st), the Moon is at apogee its furthest distance from the Earth for the month (251,823 miles) at 7:02 a.m. EDT.
Wednesday (2nd), the Moon is 3 degrees north of Jupiter.
Thursday (3rd), the Moon is 3 degrees north of Neptune.
Friday (4th), The Moon will be Full at 12:03 p.m. EDT. This is the Full Sturgeon Moon – named after a large fish of the Great Lakes that are most readily caught during this month. Fishing tribes are credited for giving the name of this Moon. Additionally, a few tribes knew the August Full Moon as the Full Red Moon because of its reddish appearance through the sultry haze of summer. It is sometimes called the Green Corn Moon or Grain Moon as well.
Will Mars be so close to Earth that it will appear as large as a Full Moon on August 27th of this year? This is very interesting because since 2003, this has become a perpetual astronomy question that resurfaces each year in August. Somehow this rumor keeps popping up each year. The short answer is “NO!”
Now for the long answer. Most rumors have a kernel of truth in them. This is no different. The fact is, on August 27, 2003, Mars and Earth were as close to each other as they have been in several tens of thousands of years and closer than they will be again for another 60 thousand years. If you were around in 2003, you may remember that Mars was not the size of a Full Moon. You may say, well I don’t remember if it was or not. I submit to you that if it were the size of a Full Moon, you WOULD remember! I really have no clue as to how that part of the rumor developed. The diameter of Mars is actually two times the diameter of the Moon, so that can’t be it.
Ok, so how close is Mars now? Well, let me give you some comparisons. Currently, Mars is 157 million miles from Earth (1.696 AUs). On August 27, 2003, it was only 34.5 million miles from Earth (0.3727 AUs). This means that it is four-and-a-half times further from Earth now than it was back in August ’03.
It is interesting also to note that currently Earth and Mars are getting closer to each other. In five (5) months (January 27, 2010) Mars and Earth will be in another opposition. This means that Mars will pass between the Earth and Sun. This is when Mars and Earth are at their closest point in their orbits around the Sun. This year is not an especially close approach (0.664 AUs from Earth). This is roughly 61.6 million miles or 1.78 times further away from Earth than it was back on August 27, 2003. The opposition of Earth and Mars occurs every 26 months or so.
So now you know. When someone tells you about Mars, you can say: “Actually that is not true. The real story is..……”.
This is a beautiful open cluster which lies over 9,000 light-years from the Sun. It goes by names: the Owl Cluster, Kachina Doll Cluster, or the ET Cluster, due to its resemblance to the movie character.
To locate this cluster look 2° SSW of Cassiopeiae. It is fairly easy to spot because of its magnitude 6.2. It is also nicely positioned so you will not have to strain your neck to keep it in view.
When you see it, you will know why it is called the dragonfly cluster. The stars are very distinct and you will want to spend some time pouring over the stars within this open cluster. Take your time and enjoy this celestial treasure.
August 24, 1989: The Voyager 2 space probe flew by Neptune, sending back striking photographs from a distance of some 63,000 miles from the ringed planet.
August 25, 1981: Voyager 2 came within 63,000 miles of Saturn’s cloud cover, sending back photos and data.
August 27, 1962: The US launched the Mariner 2 space probe, which flew past Venus in the following December.
August 27, 1984: The Teacher in Space program was announced. A year and a half later, the Space Shuttle Challenger, carrying Teacher / Astronaut, Christa McAuliffe, launched on January 28, 1986 and went into the history books.
August 28, 1789: William Herschel discovered Enceladus, the sixth largest moon of Saturn. Enceladus, with a diameter of 310 miles, is about one tenth as large as the Earth’s moon. By Saturn’s standard it is a fairly large moon. The surface of Enceladus has some areas with craters and some areas that are smooth. It is thought that the smooth areas are fairly young resurfaced areas formed from cryovolcanic activity.
August 29, 1965: Gemini 5, carrying astronauts Gordon Cooper and Charles “Pete” Conrad splashed down in the Atlantic after eight days in space.
The Moon will be waxing from a shallow crescent at the first of the week to Gibbous by the end of the week. Because it will set early in the evening at the first of the week, the Stargaze Rating for the first couple days in the week are good. By mid week the moon will be very prominent in the sky, making it difficult to do much deep sky observing except in the early morning.
The Moongaze Rating is very good for the early evening and night as the terminator crosses from the eastern limb to the mid-western meridian.
For a great website to locate the planets, go to www.nightskyinfo.com. This site will tell you about the planets and give you a good star map to locate them (116).
Sunset Sky: (Sunset until 11 p.m.)
We are losing Saturn in the early sunset sky. If you have a very low western horizon, you might still get a glimpse of it but that will be short lived. Not to fear though, because by the end of September Saturn will be up in the early morning skies, low in the east.
Mercury is in greatest elongation (27 degrees) at 12 noon EDT on Monday (24th), so this is a good time to try to spot the innermost planet.
Late Evening (11 p.m. until 4 a.m.):
Jupiter rises in the east and by this time of night, it is high enough for good observing. Look for the four Galilean moons and cloud belts. If your sky is clear enough you can see that the four moons are more than just points of light. You will be able to see that they are different sizes. With a small telescope, you might also be able to see a shadow of one of them cross the surface of Jupiter.
Predawn Sky: (4 a.m. until sunrise)
The early morning sky holds Venus, Mars, and Jupiter. If you get up before the Sun, the first thing you will notice is Venus to the east. Then you will notice Jupiter to the west. Both of these are very bright and easy to spot.
In between the two, you will find Mars. It is not nearly as bright but its amber hue will give it away. For an interesting story about Mars, look above.
Thursday (27th), the Moon is in First Quarter at 7:42 a.m. EDT.
Thursday (27th), the Moon will pass 0.6 degrees north of Antares at 6 p.m. EDT.
How can the stars be moving in different directions and yet we have star maps that tell us where they are. If the stars are moving, how can star maps be accurate?
To begin with, “yes, the stars do move relative to each other.” Some groups of stars move together in space, we call them star clusters. Massive numbers of stars move in an orbit about the center of the galaxy that they belong. There is constant turmoil of motion in deep space and the stars are moving very rapidly in that turmoil.
The reason that star maps can remain accurate in all of that motion and change is, the distances involved in the galactic motion are staggering. Because the distances are so vast, stars would have to move tremendous distances to be observed from Earth.
The truth is, star maps must be updated to compensate for the motion of the stars. If you are a serious astronomer, the star map updates are critical to your work. For the rest of us, we can’t see the position changes even when we try. Now, for those of you who plan to stick around another 50,000 years or so, you will easily be able to see changes in the star positions. In that length of time, many of the constellations will be unrecognizable, assuming you can recognize them now.