Watch the Skies - August's Night Sky Notes [updated]

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Prepare for Perseids!

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Are you ready for the 2024 Perseids? Their peak is expected to be on the night of August 11 through the morning of the 12th, with good seeing to be had the nights before and after. You may have already spotted a few Perseids streaking across the summer skies! This shower, part of the debris stream of comet Swift-Tuttle, actually starts in mid to late July and lasts through most of August. While most of these nights only showcase a few meteors each hour, the peak of the Perseids brings many, many more. How much more? The number actually varies every year; there can be as little as a few dozen per hour, but some rare years bring a brief "burst' of up to two hundred beautiful "shooting stars" an hour.

Read More: ➡️ NASA

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August’s Night Sky Notes: Seeing Double

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by Kat Troche of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific

 

During the summer months, we tend to miss the views of Saturn, Jupiter and other heavenly bodies. But it can be a great time to look for other items, like globular star clusters such as Messier 13, open star clusters such as the Coma Star Cluster (Melotte 111), but also double stars!

Read More: ➡️ NASA

 

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The Next Full Moon is a Supermoon Blue Moon

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The Next Full Moon is a Supermoon, a Blue Moon; the Sturgeon Moon; the Red, Corn, Green Corn, Barley, Herb, Grain, or Dog Moon; Raksha Bandhan or Rakhi Purnima; and Tu B'Av.

The full Moon will be Monday afternoon, August 19, 2024, at 2:26 PM EDT. This will be Tuesday morning from Nepal Standard Time eastward across the rest of Asia and Australia to the International Date Line. The Moon will appear full for three days, from Sunday morning through early Wednesday morning. 

Read More: ➡️ NASA

 

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The Summer Triangle’s Hidden Treasures

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August skies bring the lovely Summer Triangle asterism into prime position after nightfall for observers in the Northern Hemisphere. Its position high in the sky may make it difficult for some to observe its member stars comfortably, since looking straight up while standing can be hard on one’s neck! While that isn’t much of a problem for those that just want to quickly spot its brightest stars and member constellations, this difficulty can prevent folks from seeing some of the lesser known and dimmer star patterns scattered around its informal borders

Read More: ➡️ NASA

 

[Hazzard]

Sorry to post this off topic W, but I was hoping to get your thoughts on this, here...

 

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On 8/16/2024 at 2:51 PM, Hazzard said:

Sorry to post this off topic W, but I was hoping to get your thoughts on this, here...

 

I'll take a look.

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The Moon slides by Saturn: This Week in Astronomy with Dave Eicher 8/19/2024

 

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Mars, Jupiter and the Moon partner up in the night sky (26 August to 1 September)

 

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The Moon, Mars, and Jupiter meet up! This Week in Astronomy with Dave Eicher 8/26/2024