Skywatch Line for Friday, August 9, through Sunday, August 11, written by Sam Salem
This is Dudley Observatory’s Skywatch Line for Friday, August 9, through Sunday, August 11, written by Sam Salem.
On Friday, Sun rises at 5:56am and sets at 8:05pm; Moon rises at 10:57am and sets at 8:18pm.
The Moon will reach apogee, its farthest distance from Earth in its elliptical orbit around Earth, on Friday, when it’s 251,839 miles away.
On Friday and Saturday evenings, the waxing crescent Moon will lie near the bright star Spica in Virgo the Maiden. Look west-southwest in late dusk to spot Spica just 4° or 5° upper left of the crescent Moon. Very high above or upper right of them is Arcturus, brighter and pale yellow-orangish. On Saturday, Spica shines a little farther to the Moon’s right or lower right as twilight fades out. They’ll rise before sunset and be visible until after 10 pm.
Sunday is the peak Perseid meteor night, and maybe the first of two. The actual peak of the shower is supposed to be 9 am to noon EDT on Monday. That’s not long after the ideal Perseid meteor-watching hours before dawn. In early evening the meteors will be few, but those that do appear will be Earth-grazers skimming far across the top of the atmosphere. As the hours pass and the shower’s radiant, in northern Perseus near Cassiopeia, rises higher in the northeast, the meteors will become shorter and more numerous. The radiant is highest before dawn. The meteors only become visible when they hit the upper atmosphere, and this can occur anywhere in your sky.
Venus, at magnitude –3.8, is getting very slightly more visible week by week, very low above the west horizon in bright twilight. Scan for it a little to the right of due west starting 15 or 20 minutes after sundown. Binoculars will help.
Mars and Jupiter, at magnitudes +0.9 and –2.1, respectively, in the constellation of Taurus, rise around 2 am. Mars-like Aldebaran sits to their right. Watch for the trio to come up in the east-northeast.
Mars shines upper right of brighter Jupiter, closer to it day by day. They close to 0.3° for their conjunction on Monday. Above all three points are the Pleiades. Around dawn time, the whole array is much higher in the east with Orion beneath them.
Saturn, at magnitude +0.8, near the Aquarius-Pisces border, rises in the east around the end of twilight. Watch for it to the lower right of the Great Square of Pegasus, which is balancing on one corner. The Square’s top-right edge points diagonally down nearly to Saturn, two fists at arm’s length away. Saturn reaches its highest position in the south, in the steadiest atmospheric seeing for a telescope, in the hours before the start of dawn.