August 1999

by Steve Stefanik

August is of course the month of the annual Perseid meteor showers. This year’s rendition could see as many as 80 meteors per hour peaking on the night of the 12/13. They get their name from the constellation Perseus (which appears in the northeastern sky at night this time of year) because they appear to radiate from it. However it is best to look about 45 degrees from the radiant in all directions. The conditions will be particularly favorable this year (weather permitting) because the moon will not interfere being only one day past its "new" phase. The best time for observing them is in the early hours past midnight because the earth will have rotated so that the night-side of our planet will be plunging head-long into the stream of debris left in the wake of Comet Swift-Tuttle.

While you’re waiting for the show to commence there is plenty to see this month beginning with Venus in the west. Although it is not as high as it was in past months (its only 8 degrees above the western horizon tonight), it is still brilliant at -4.2 magnitude. Through binoculars or even a small telescope you will see that it is only a sliver of a crescent. This is the last month to catch a glimpse of it at a decent hour before it becomes a "morning star"rising in the wee hours of the morning in the east by the end of the month.

Mars is still visible low in the southwest at nightfall among the stars of the constellation Libra (the scales) above Scorpio (the scorpion). It has separated itself from Spica the bright blue star in the constellation Virgo by more than 30 degrees. Don’t mistake it for the bright red star Antares slightly below and to the left of it in Scorpio or the bright red-orange star Arcturus above it in the constellation Bootes (the herdsman).

While you are looking south in the same general direction, take the time to scan the constellations of Scorpio and Sagittarius’ "teapot" asterism with binoculars or a telescope. You will be astounded by the number of open and globular star clusters as well as tenuous nebulae. You will be looking into the heart of our galaxy, the Milky Way.

If you look to the left (eastward) of Sagittarius late in the evening, among the dim stars of the constellation of Capricorn (the sea goat), you may locate the blue-green +5.7 magnitude planet Uranus. It reaches opposition on August 7. Following on the heels of Uranus is the planet Neptune although it is somewhat dimmer and more difficult to find being only +7.8 magnitude. You’ll definitely need the aid of a telescope or a powerful pair of binoculars to spot this blue sphere.

By midnight the giant planet Jupiter makes its way over the eastern horizon onto the scene. It will rise earlier and higher with each passing August night brightening as it approaches opposition two months from now. You shouldn’t get the -2.7 magnitude planet confused with anything else in this section of sky in the constellation Aries (the ram).

Rising about 40 minutes later, the soft orange glow of the +0.5 magnitude planet Saturn can also be spotted among the dim stars of Aries. Through even a small telescope you should be able to observe its ring system tilted 15 degrees toward us.