This Week In The Creator's Skies

When I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers,

the moon and the stars, which thou hast ordained;

What is man, that thou art mindful of him?

Psalm 8:3,4

 (From Astronomy and Sky & Telescope Magazines) 

Sunday, August 10
Saturn’s two-toned moon Iapetus stands 1.5′ north of the ringed planet early this morning, shining around 11th magnitude. Spending much of its time far from Saturn, Iapetus rotates in lockstep with its orbit, so that its magnitude changes throughout its orbit as its brighter or darker hemisphere faces us.
Monday, August 11
Asteroid 89 Julia reaches opposition at 5 A.M. EDT. Shining at magnitude 8.5, it’s easily reachable with binoculars. The best time to view it will be this evening, so let’s stop first in the early-morning sky, where Venus and Jupiter now rise just 1.2° apart, closing in for their formal conjunction tomorrow, when less than 1° will separate them.

An hour before sunrise, the pair of planets is 20° high in the east, between the two bodies of Gemini. To their left are Castor and Pollux, the Twins’ brightest stars, stacked on top of each other as the constellation rises (Castor is higher). Jupiter is just left of Venus, with the gas giant glowing a bright magnitude –1.9 — but it’s outdone by brighter Venus, at magnitude –4.0. Check out both with the naked eye and through binoculars. They’re close enough to appear within a single field of view.
Tuesday, August 12
Venus passes 0.9° south of Jupiter at 4 A.M. EDT, the two planets officially meeting in a conjunction as the Perseid meteor shower peaks.
Step outside at 4 A.M. local time to catch the show. At that time, Venus and Jupiter are some 7° high in the east, located centrally in Gemini the Twins. Venus is the brightest object in the sky, blazing at magnitude –4.0. Jupiter, which sits just to Venus’ upper left, is no slouch at magnitude –1.9. The two bright points of light will be unmissable in the early-morning sky, with the Twins’ brightest two stars, Castor and Pollux, shining to their left. Pollux, which sits closer to the horizon as Gemini rises, is just slightly brighter than Castor, which appears above it.

Wednesday, August 13
The Perseids are still active late tonight.
The Wild Duck Cluster, also cataloged as M11, flies high in Scutum this evening about two hours after sunset. Around 10 P.M. local daylight time, you can find it some 40° high in the south, some 3° west-southwest of the tail feathers of Aquila the Eagle.
Thursday, August 14
The Moon reaches perigee at 1:59 P.M. EDT. Perigee is the point in the Moon’s orbit when it is closest to Earth; this afternoon, our satellite will sit 229,456 miles away.
Mercury is just starting to emerge from the Sun’s glare, presenting a challenging but reachable target.
Friday, August 15
Dwarf planet 1 Ceres is stationary at 9 P.M. EDT, though to spot it you’ll have to get up early, as it’s only visible in the morning sky.
Around 4 A.M. local daylight time, Ceres is just over 40° high in the southern sky. The main belt’s largest body is currently making its way through Cetus the Whale in a region to the lower left of Saturn, which is the brightest point light visible to the naked eye in southwestern Pisces.

Saturday, August 2

The two brightest stars of summer are Vega, overhead after dark, and Arcturus shining in the west. Vega is white with just a touch of blue. Arcturus is a yellow-orange giant.