After its new phase on the first, a crescent moon will move thru the planet parade. A very slender crescent will be half the width of your hand (with your arm straight out) left of Venus on the 2nd. Look for them just two fingers above the horizon right of west at 9:15 p.m. On the 3rd, a thin crescent will form a large triangle with Mars and Saturn. At 9:15, the moon will be due west and two fingers up, with Mars half a hand to its upper left and Saturn almost a hand to the right.
Continuing its usual progress, the moon will be left of Mars in the evening of the 4th. Then on the 6th, the bright star Spica will shine just a couple fingers above the moon around 10 p.m.
It should be easy to see the moon in daylight when it is at its first quarter phase on the 8th. For example, this half illuminated moon will be close to directly south between 7 and 8 p.m.
Every August we have one of our best meteor showers of the year, the Perseids. These "shooting stars" are caused by small dust-like particles left behind by previous passages of a comet called Swift-Tuttle. As the earth plows thru this stream of particles, the atmosphere heats them to incandescence, producing brief streaks of light in the sky. The best time to observe meteors is after real midnight (1 a.m. "daylight" time), because that is when we are able to begin looking in the direction in which the earth is moving in its orbit and sweeping up such particles.
The peak in the rate at which these meteors will be seen (perhaps one per minute) will occur on the night of the 11th-12th. Moonlight will be a nuisance until the moon sets about 2 a.m. of the 12th. If you do not mind being up in the middle of the night, the next three hours will be the best viewing times. Choose a dark location where you can see a large part of the sky, and try a semi-reclining position. Warm clothes and insect repellent are usually welcome. The number of meteors will also be quite high the previous night, and the moon will set an hour earlier.
Venus will have Saturn closely to its right at dusk on the 13th. They will be two fingers up and right of west at 9 p.m. It should be fairly easy to pick brilliant Venus out of the twilight, but binoculars will probably be needed to see Saturn, which is much less bright. Venus will be set by 9:30, leaving Jupiter as the brightest "star" in the sky. A chubby moon, left of south, will have Jupiter to its upper right at that time.
Jupiter is now in that part of its journey thru the constellations where it appears low in the sky as seen from Ohio, so we can expect its image in a telescope to be less than ideal. However, it will be high enough for decent views by 10 p.m. this month. With a small telescope Jupiter's four large moons will be visible, as well as some markings on the planet's face.
Mercury will come up to join the fun in the western sky at dusk, and a compact grouping will be formed on the 15th. At 9 p.m., Venus will be two fingers above the horizon right of west, Mercury will be one finger to its lower right, and Saturn will be closely to the upper right of Mercury. Mercury should be bright enough for eyes alone, but binoculars will certainly help for Saturn.
On the 19th and 20th, Venus will have Mercury closely below it. They will be half a hand up and almost directly west at 8:50 p.m. These two planets will then be within one finger of each other for the next several evenings. Mercury will be one finger left of Venus on the 25th, and they will be half a hand up and due west at 8:45. If you have not already done so, this month gives an excellent opportunity to see Mercury and to recognize it as such.
The moon will have its last quarter phase on the 23rd, and it will be way high and close to due south at sunrise (6:52 a.m.). It should be easy to see all morning long, about half the sky from the sun , and will still be well up in the west at noon.
This is a good month to enjoy the Milky Way, the glowing band produced by the hundreds of billions of stars in our Galaxy. When the sky becomes truly dark, about 10:30, this band comes off the horizon in the south, is just to the right of Jupiter, passes nearly overhead, and reaches the horizon again in the northeast.
Warm August evenings invite us to linger outdoors after sunset. We have planet antics at dusk, meteors streaking across the sky, and sparkling Jupiter most of the night. And all of this costs the same as last year.
Copyright Roger Ptak 2008