Welcome to the August night sky. This is the month of the famous Perseids meteor shower. This is one of the year’s best known meteor showers, and the radiant is in the constellations of Perseus, just below the “W” of the constellation of Cassiopeia.
This shower is seen high in the north-eastern sky from the night of the 12th into the morning of the 13th. Approximately 60 meteors an hour are to be seen with luck. The meteors are dust left behind from comet Swift-Tuttle.
The Perseid meteors usually leave long trails of light and colour behind them as they streak through the Earth’s atmosphere. The Moon will be around 50% illuminated at the time of the Perseids. It will set approximately at midnight so there will be dark skies from them until sunrise.
Comet Swift-Tuttle is the largest object known to pass repeatedly close to the Earth. Its nucleus is more than 10 miles across. The last time it passed the Earth was 1992.
The planet Mercury passes behind the Sun from our point of view on the 19th, so it is not easily visible.
Venus is still an evening planet, setting in the west around 40 minutes after the Sun. Mars is best seen as a morning planet close to the star Aldebaran and the gas giant planet Jupiter. The actual planet Jupiter is in the constellation of Taurus, and it will be seen 40 degrees high during darkness by the end of the month.
The ringed Planet Saturn will be seen during the morning this month. On the 21st, Saturn will be seen to pass directly behind the Moon between 03:10 UTC and emerging at 04:22 UTC. Saturn is at opposition on the 8th of next month and the gas planet Uranus is near the Pleiades in August.
This month should see the launch of Elon Musk’s fifth starship. This time it’s planned to land back at Starbase, Texas, if all goes well.
The Moon is new on the 4th, first quarter on the 12th, full on the 19th and last quarter on August 26.
By Clive Jackson
|| features@algarveresident.com
Clive Jackson is the director of the Camera Obscura – Tavira EYE attraction, located near the Castle of Tavira. Specialising in education and public outreach.
281 322 527 | info@torredetavira.com www.torredetavira.com
To see the August Sky Map click on the pdf link below
