Welcome to the August night sky. This month, the summer Milky Way can be seen in all its splendour as soon as the sky is fully dark, but you must be away from streetlights.
Over towards the southwestern horizon, we can see the constellation of Scorpius imbedded in the broadest part of the Milky Way. Now, this is where we can see the giant gas planet Jupiter shining brightly with a pale-yellow light. Jupiter is moving towards the horizon as the night progresses and its colour will turn more yellowish the lower the planet becomes.
Due south in the Milky Way in the constellation of Sagittarius, the ringed planet Saturn is now perfectly placed for viewing in any small telescope, and any person seeing it for the first time in this way will never forget the experience.
The night of August 12 is the peak of the famous Perseid meteors, this shower is dust left over from the tail of comet Swift-Tuttle and normally many dozens of falling stars can be seen on this night.
Last month marked the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 Moon landing mission. I remember as a 13-year-old in 1969 thinking that by the year 2000 we would be taking holidays in space and would be seeing star ships on the way to other solar systems by then.
It is shocking to think that in 2019 the technology does not even exist now to replicate that endeavour. What has happened in the last half century? Has western society become so risk adverse, and so politically correct that we are now heading back in the direction of the Stone Age instead of onwards and upwards towards our rightful place in the stars?
I did hear on the TV news recently that the next person on the Moon would have to be gender neutral in order to show how inclusive and progressive society has become. The fact is that the next person to step on the Moon is mostly likely to be Chinese, and they do not do gender politics so they would simply use the best person for the job.
Space flight is an exceptionally difficult and dangerous endeavour and the harsh reality is that there is no place for any ideologies or belief systems up there.
The space environment would kill a snowflake in an instant, maybe the real reason that manned space exploration program has stopped in the west is that all the courageous risk takers are now too old to make a difference.
The only scientist to ever walk on the Moon was Harrison Schmitt who is now 84 and he truly knows that no scientist would ever use the phrase “the science is settled” as you must be skeptical of everything and try to disprove or falsify any theory if true progress is to be made. This is self-evident either here on Earth or up in space. Nowadays you must be truly courageous even to make a statement like that.
The Moon is new on August 1, first quarter on August 7, full on August 15, last quarter on August 23 and new again on August 30.
To see the August Sky Map click on the pdf link below
