AUGUST 2010 – OBSERVING HIGHLIGHTS
by Stan Howard, ACA VP Observing
Heading for the Last
Roundup:
If you missed seeing the planets line up in July, you have one more chance.
Mars, Venus and Saturn will be converging during the first week of August. By the 5th, they will be within 5 degrees of each other. After this last roundup of planets, they will all be sinking in the west. They will not be seen until November, and then only as late dawn objects in the morning sky. Saturn will be an evening sky object again in April.
August 2010 Highlights
* 6 Mercury at its greatest elongation in the evening. Check at the western horizon.
* 5-8 Venus, Mars, Saturn close in on each other in the evening sky. Start watching now.
*10 Moon at perigee, high tides expected.
*12 Perseid Meteor Shower maximum, active July 17-August 24.
*31 Venus, Mars and Spica converge, evening sky.
Print:
See Sky Maps for a great map and list of monthly events.
Convert UT to EST at NASA Time Zone help.
Make your own Planisphere and bring it with you to our meetings and observing.
Astronomical
League Lunar Club Observing List
Kids: Make a Star Finder at NASA Space Place!
Read:
http://www.skyandtelescope.com/observing/ataglance
http://www.jodrellbank.manchester.ac.uk/astronomy/nightsky/#highlights
“Observing live” - a great experience!
Practice:
Stellarium 0.10.2: Get this disk from me at any meeting.
Virtual Moon: Get this disk from me at any meeting.
Using a Naked-Eye “Star Map”
Observe:
Sagittarius, the Teapot, surrounds our view of the center of the Milky Way Galaxy. Learn the names of the 8 stars. Then look for many Messier objects here.
We will observe the moon and stars
at
I. EARTH SATELLITES: Moon –
Last quarter – August 2nd-3rd
New moon – August 10th, start of lunation 1084
1st Quarter – August 16th
Full moon – August 24th
The Straight Wall is best observed either 1 or 2 days after First Quarter (18th August: early morning best otherwise after sunset) or a day or so before Third Quarter (2nd August evening/night best). To be honest, it is not really a wall but a gentle scarp - as Sir Patrick has said "Neither is it a wall nor is it straight!"
II. ARTIFICIAL
SATELLITES:
Check out Spaceweather.com and click on “Satellite Fly Bys.” It shows only the brightest satellites, such as the ISS, Hubble space Telescope, the Iridium wreckage, etc. It also gives their data, such as rise time, direction, elevation, and magnitudes.
See also Heavens-Above.com for satellites crossing your specific location.
III. PLANETS:
MERCURY:
Mar 2011 Messenger
Spacecraft to enter elliptical orbit.
VENUS and MARS: See also …Roundup above.
Venus is now very prominent in the evening sky after sunset in the west north-west. . . . It will be easily spotted - the brightest object in the night sky after the Moon. With an angular size of 20 arc seconds as August begins and increasing to 28 arc seconds by month's end, it will appear in a telescope as a well illuminated disc like the Moon around first quarter. It reaches its greatest angular separation (elongation) from the Sun on the 19th August.
It is an interesting fact that Venus's brightness remains pretty constant at ~ -3.8 to -4.6 all the time that it is visible. As it nears the Earth, it become a thin crescent, but the fact that it is then much nearer to us means that the effective reflecting area remains virtually constant in apparent size.
JUPITER: Best seen mid month, late evening to dawn, (same for Uranus and Neptune), in Pisces. Be sure to check out the 4 Jovian moons during the month as they stay in line but change positions next to Jupiter: Callisto (Mag. 6.31), Europa (Mag. 5.97), Io (Mag. 5.69) and largest and brightest, Ganymede (Mag. 5.29).
URANUS: “This month, Uranus lies a few degrees to the right of Jupiter. . . .As the month progresses, Jupiter closes on Uranus and at month's end is just 1 degree 45 arc minutes to its lower left, just below a 7th magnitude star and so forming a right angle triangle. Given a small telescope you may resolve the 3.6 arc second greenish-blue disk. With Jupiter on the left, both will be seen together in a binocular field of view and Uranus will be the brightest object in the field after Jupiter.”
NEPTUNE:
With a noticeable blue gray hue,
IV. DEEP SKY:
Evening Constellations – Enjoy the Summer Triangle, Scorpus, Sagittarius, Hercules, Ursa Major, Ophiuchus, and many more this time of year. Don’t forget to see one of the most beautiful double stars in the heavens – Alberio in Cygnus the Swan.
V. NEBULA:
1. The Dumbbell Nebula M27 is easily seen in
binoculars. It is a planetary nebula in the constellation Vulpecula. This magnificent planetary nebula is very
bright and large. Now is a good
time to identify Vulpecula,
which means Little Fox with Goose. You can find it right inside of the
Summer Triangle, up from Sagitta toward Cygnus. Find M27 using this guide.
By the way, SEDS = Students for the Exploration and Development of Space.
2. With a telescope, the Ring Nebula M57 can be found in Lyra.
3. With an OIII filter you can see the Veil_Nebula, NGC 6960 +, a large, relatively faint supernova remnant in the constellation Cygnus, the Swan.
VI. CLUSTERS: M13 in Hercules is the largest globular cluster in the Northern Hemisphere. Look for it in Hercules’ keystone. M5 another fine globular cluster lies in Serpens. M11, the Wild Duck cluster is one of the richest and most compact open clusters. Lying in Scutum, it’s one of the grandest views in the sky.
VII. GALAXIES: M81 and M82 can be seen in the same field of view in binoculars and wide field telescopes. Look in Ursa Major for the gems. Check out the whirlpool galaxy M51 in Canes Venatici.
VIII. METEORS: July 17-August 24 Perseid Meteor Shower, maximum on August 12th. Best viewing is usually to the east after midnight.
