Monthly Night Sky Report: August 2024

 Introduction

    July was quite a hot month for Utahns, with several days breaking heat records.  I escaped the heat for a week while on a cruise to Alaska. The sub-70° and rainy weather were great for comfort but not for stargazing. In fact, even if the skies were clear, stargazing would have been disappointing due to sunset occurring close to 10:00 PM and sunrise before 5:00 AM Alaskan Time. The sky was never truly dark, and only the brightest stars were visible.

    August typically offers weather similar to July for Utahns, with hot temperatures and smokey skies from wildfires in Utah and neighboring states. With any luck, we should be able to view a conjunction between Mars and Jupiter, Mercury and Venus, the Moon and planets, and the highly anticipated Perseid Meteor Shower.     

                      

Mercury

    Mercury may be hard to spot during August as it transitions from the evening to the morning sky. This tiny world will reach inferior conjunction with the Sun on the 18th so the best time to catch a glimpse will come in early or late August. While not a true conjunction, Mercury and Venus will be found roughly 6° apart on the 6th shortly after sunset. A slender Moon can be found close to these inner planets on the 5th. If Mercury was missed in the evening sky during early August, the next views will be during the last couple of mornings of the month. Mercury will rise shortly before the Sun, so a clear view of the eastern horizon is needed. The Moon will again join Mercury on the 31st.   

  

Venus

    Due to its low elevation, Venus may have been hard to spot against the western horizon during July. August will bring slightly better views, but an elevated view of the west horizon will be helpful. Venus will reward observers by shining brightly after sunset if these requirements can be satisfied. A thin crescent Moon can be found close by on the 5th, and Mercury will make its closest approach to this planet on the 6th of this month. Observes who aim their binoculars or telescope at Venus will see a nearly full disk shining through the eyepiece.  

    

Mars

    Mars can be found near Aldebaran, the red eye of Taurus, throughout August. The pair will shine at roughly the same magnitude, so don't confuse them! Remember, stars flicker like a candle while planets have a steady glow like a flashlight. Jupiter can be found less than 5° from Mars but shines over 15 times brighter. Mars is currently about 140 million miles from the Earth, with Jupiter's orbit nearly four times as far. This should help observers realize the giant size of Jupiter when compared to other planets in the solar system! Observers watching these two planets will notice them converging in the dark sky. The pair will reach conjunction on the 14th when they will be less than half a degree apart. These planets should look stunning through binoculars or a telescope with a low-power eyepiece installed. The Moon will join Mars on the 27th.   

Jupiter

Saturn

    Jupiter is rising earlier with each passing day, making it an excellent target for stargazers. This giant world rises around 2:30 AM at the beginning of the month and a full two hours earlier by month's end. Mars can be found close by, but will glow red and about 16 times dimmer than Jupiter. On the 14th, the pair will have less than half a degree of open space between them from our earthly vantage point. As with last month, the Galilean Moons will make several transits of their parent planet this month. I recommend using the Moons of Jupiter & Saturn app for Android or the Galilean Moons of Jupiter web app to find the transit times of these moons and the Great Red Spot. Both of these resources allow the user to find the transit times of some of Saturn's moons, while the web app also provides a map of Mars to help observers learn about what they can see on the Red Planet. The Moon will join Mars and Jupiter during the early morning hours of the 27th.  

    The outer planets are aligning in the eastern sky, with Saturn leading the pack. The ringed world will rise close to 10:30 PM local time and about two hours earlier by the end of the month. Now is a great time to view Saturn as it nears opposition. This world will appear brighter with both aided and unaided eyes as opposition approaches. The Moons of Jupiter & Saturn app for Android or Saturn's Satellites web app can be used to find the locations of several of Saturn's moons. For those with Apple devices, JupiterMoons and SaturnMoons should offer similar results.   

       

Neptune

Uranus

    

    Blue-green Uranus will rise around 1:30 AM at the beginning of the month and about two hours earlier by the end of August, local time. As mentioned in previous posts, a pair of binoculars or a telescope will be needed to view this distant planet. A dark sky location will also be helpful. Uranus will appear as a disk in the field of view instead of a pinpoint like most stars. This world can be found close to the Pleiades, M45, which looks excellent through binoculars during the first week or so of August. As the month continues, Uranus will appear to move eastward against the background stars. The Moon will pass close by on the 25th.

    Neptune will rise approximately 30 minutes after Saturn. Through binoculars or a telescope, this world will appear similar in color but smaller than Uranus. A light pollution-free sky will help detect the color of this most distant world. Neptune rises earlier than Uranus, so the Earth's Moon can be found close by on the 21st, a few days earlier than the Uranus and Moon pairing. The pair will be less than 1° apart from our vantage point on this date.   

Return of the Perseids

    The Perseid Meteor Shower returns this month under favorable conditions. Favorable as far as the Moon being out of the sky. Hopefully the weather and smokey skies cooperate this year! The Perseids will peak on the 12th, with a chance to see up to 100 meteors per hour. Grab a comfortable reclining chair or lay on the lawn, look towards the northeast after midnight, and enjoy the show. A location free of light pollution will increase the number of meteors that can be seen. This date would also be a great time to practice long exposure or time-lapse photography of the night sky. 

Monthly Breakdown

August 04: New Moon 🌑
August 05: Mars and Aldebaran within 5°

August 05: Moon passes within 2° of Venus

August 05: Moon passes within 7° of Mercury

August 06: Mercury and Venus within 6°

August 12: Perseid Meteor Shower peaks 

August 12: First Quarter Moon 🌓

August 14: Moon passes less than 1° from Antares

August 14: Mars and Jupiter conjunction 

August 18: Mercury reaches inferior conjunction with the Sun

August 19: Full Moon 🌕

August 20: Moon passes within 0.5° of Saturn 

August 21: Moon passes within 0.5° of Neptune

August 25: Moon passes within 4° of Uranus 

August 26: Last Quarter Moon🌗

August 27: Moon passes within 5° of Mars

August 27: Moon passes within 6° of Jupiter

 

         

Now get outside and look up!

Planet images were taken by NASA.

Andrew vs. the Cosmos image was taken by Jeff Greenland.

The Milky Way and Trees image was taken by Andrew Greenland.

Orion, Taurus, and Pleiades image was taken by Andrew Greenland.

                

                

Midmonth Check-In: July 2024 and the Kuiper Belt

     

  Introduction and Monthly Reminders   

   The first half of July has been hot! Utah experienced several days of record heat. Staying cool and hydrated has been a challenge. The heat sometimes creates miserable nights for observing. Nevertheless, the skies were mostly clear during the first two weeks, and I was able to capture a few deep sky images that I will share in a future post. 

    The morning after this post was made, Mars and Uranus could be seen less than 1° apart in the sky. There will still be a few close encounters between the Moon and outer planets during the second half of July. Mercury will also reach its greatest eastern elongation on the 22nd. The highlight comes on the 30th when the Southern Delta Aquariid Meteor Shower peaks.   

The Kuiper Belt

    The Kuiper Belt was theorized in a paper written by astronomer Kenneth Edgeworth in the 1940s and again in the 1950s by Gerard Kuiper. This region of our solar system is now known to officially exist and is home to many of the dwarf planets we hear so much about, like Pluto. Most of the objects in the Kuiper belt are much smaller than Pluto but vary widely in size.  

    The Kuiper Belt is thought to have formed about 4.6 billion years ago with the Sun and the rest of the solar system. It is even believed that Neptune may have prohibited another planet from forming in this area. Due to Neptune's gravity, objects in the Kuiper Belt often get nudged out of their otherwise peaceful orbit. These objects can sometimes be ejected from our solar system or flung towards the inner planets.   

    The Kuiper Belt is one of the largest structures in our solar system with its orbit extending between 30 AU (the distance of Neptune) to over 1,000 AU from the Sun. It is thought to be shaped like a classical donut, with the Sun and planets in the center hole. At this distance, it takes objects well over one hundred Earth years to make one complete trip around the Sun.

    Astronomers largely agree that the Kuiper Belt is slowly eroding away due to the gravity of Neptune and other objects outside the solar system disrupting the orbit of the smaller objects in this area. This disruption causes objects to smash into each other, creating smaller objects, or the rocky bodies get flung toward the Sun or ejected from the solar system altogether. Some of these objects are known as comets, which grow a tail as they approach the Sun, and others are just rocky bodies like asteroids. A newly discovered type of object, known as a centaur, looks like an asteroid but takes the form of a comet as it reaches the inner solar system. Centaurs typically have an orbit between Jupiter and Neptune. Not all comets come from the Kuiper Belt but instead reside in the Oort Cloud, which I will discuss during my August Midmonth Check-In.        

 

    Check back soon for my next post!

    

Now get outside and look up!