Skywatch Line for Wednesday and Thursday, August 21 and 22, 2024, written by Alan French
This is Dudley Observatory’s Skywatch Line for Wednesday and Thursday, August 21 and 22, 2024, written by Alan French.
The Sun rises at 6:09 A.M. on Wednesday and sets at 7:47 P.M. On Thursday it rises at 6:10 and sets at 7:45. This Thursday has 18 minutes, 26 seconds less daylight than last Thursday.
The Moon was full on Monday and is now headed toward last quarter. On Wednesday the waning gibbous Moon will rise at 8:59 P.M. in the east, appearing 92% illuminated. It will be due south and 48 degrees above the horizon at 3:11 A.M. Thursday morning.
Thursday night’s Moon rises at 9:21 P.M. and will appear 85% sunlit. It will be south and 56 degrees high at 4:01 A.M. Friday morning. The Moon will reach last quarter next Monday morning.
If you are up Wednesday morning there is a fine pass of the International Space Station (ISS) high overhead visible from Schenectady and the surrounding region. People northeast and southwest of Schenectady will see it take the same path across the sky.
The ISS will move out of the Earth’s shadow and come into view just before 5:29 A.M. Wednesday morning when 10 degrees above the southwestern horizon. (When a fist is held at arm’s length, the knuckles span 10 degrees.) Just after 5:29 the ISS will pass close to Saturn and then the Moon.
The space station’s path will take it directly overhead. It will be overhead at 5:32 A.M. and will then head down toward the northeastern horizon. It will disappear low in the northeast around 5:36. At its brightest it will reach magnitude -3.8.
There is an earlier pass of the ISS on Thursday morning under darker skies. Look for it to move out of the Earth’s shadow and appear in the south southwest well below the Moon just before 4:42 A.M. The station will then move across the southern sky and toward the east. Just before 4:44 A.M., the ISS will pass close by Jupiter and then Mars. Moving toward the northeast it will then pass through Gemini and disappear low in the northeast around 4:47. Its maximum magnitude will be -3.3.