Creston Night Sky
Events Aug/Sept 2010:
August 3rd - Last Quarter
August 9th - New Moon
August 16th - First Quarter
August 24th - Full Moon
September 1st - Last Quarter
September 8th - New Moon
September 15th - First Quarter
Aug 4: Moon 1/2 degree from Pleiades (open cluster in Taurus)
Aug 13 3:12 am Creston Time: Double Shadow Transit on Jupiter Same type of event also happens at 5:06 am on Aug 20th
Early Aug: Planetary Trio
Mars passes less than a couple of degrees south of Saturn on Aug. 1 and Venus slides just over 3 degrees to the south nine days later; on Aug. 8, the three planets will form what Jean Meeus defines as a "trio," when three planets fit within a circle with a minimum diameter smaller than 5 degrees. These three worlds are all well out (46 to 50 degrees) from the sun but, unfortunately for the Northern Hemisphere, south of it and therefore rather low to the sunset horizon.
Evening of Aug. 12 in the early morning hours of Aug 13th: Perseid Meteor Shower Reaches Maximum Intensity.
One of the best known and most reliable of the annual meteor displays reaches maximum with no moonlight to interfere as it sets shortly after sun-set in the early evening hours. Under dark, clear skies, a single observer might see as many as 90 meteors per hour. If you aim to catch one night sky event this summer, make it this one.
The following text from http://earthsky.org/astronomy-essentials/earthskys-meteor-shower-guide gives a good summary of what to look for:
And when we say August 12 or 13, we mean the morning hours after midnight … not that night. These typically fast and bright meteors radiate from a point in the constellation Perseus the Hero. But you don’t need to know Perseus to watch the shower. The meteors appear in all parts of the sky. The Perseids are considered by many people to be the year’s best shower, and often peak at 50 or more meteors per hour. 2010 is a great year for the Perseids. This year, the slender waxing crescent moon will set at early evening, leaving a dark sky for this year’s Perseid show. The Perseids tend to strengthen in number as late night deepens into midnight, and typically produce the most meteors in the wee hours before dawn. These meteors are often bright and frequently leave persistent trains. On the mornings of August 12 and 13, watch the Perseid meteors streak across this short summer night from midnight until dawn. Lie back and watch meteors until dawn’s light washes the stars and planets from the sky. The morning of August 11 should be good, too – in fact, this shower tends to rise gradually to a peak for about a week. Then it’s known to drop off rapidly after the peak mornings.
Planets:
Mercury – not visible, too close to the Sun.
Venus – the really bright star low in the West at Sunset, will set my 8:30 pm.
Mars – Reddish coloured bright star, Low in the West at Sunset, will set my 8:30 pm.
Saturn – Low in the West at Sunset, will set my 8:30 pm.
Jupiter – is a morning planet rising rising around 8:30 pm only getting high enough to observe around 2 hours later.
Uranus - Near Jupiter (Bluish Star)
Neptune - In Capricorn
Pluto - In Sagitarius
The sky this month: August/September 2010 Facing South
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