{"id":1290,"date":"2025-07-31T12:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-07-31T12:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.skycaramba.com\/monthly\/?p=1290"},"modified":"2025-07-03T12:00:42","modified_gmt":"2025-07-03T12:00:42","slug":"august-2025","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.skycaramba.com\/monthly\/august-2025\/","title":{"rendered":"August 2025"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"Stellarium<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Morning sky watchers get a nice view of two planets and the moon close together as they rise this month. The setup is worth watching from the start of August. On the 1st<\/sup>, you’ll see Venus just over the club Orion holds and just below the feet of twin Castor in Gemini. Jupiter is closer to Castor’s waist. In the next few days, Venus scoots along those foot stars\u2014Propus on the 3rd<\/sup>, Tejat on the 5th<\/sup>. Jupiter’s moving in the same direction, but Venus is faster and catches up on the 12th<\/sup>. They’ll be as close together as 0.9\u00b0.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Jupiter<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

By that time, Mercury should be somewhat easy to find, rising below Venus and Jupiter in the twilight. The planet was in inferior conjunction on the 1st<\/sup>. Keep watching as Venus moves on and passes Wasat on the Pollux side of Gemini on the 16th<\/sup>. On the 19th<\/sup>, Venus look ready to leave Gemini while Mercury is closing in on Asellus Australis, the southern donkey star in Cancer. Mercury is also at greatest elongation that day, 18.6\u00b0 from the sun. And to make the view even better, a thin, waning, crescent moon is approaching the planets from the other side of Gemini. The moon passes north of Jupiter and Venus on the 20th<\/sup>. Mercury is closest to the donkey star that day. And then the moon passes close to Mercury on the 21st<\/sup>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Venus<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"Mercury<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

As the end of the month approaches, Venus is headed for Asellus Australis and Mercury is heading faster toward the morning sun glow. The messenger planet is at perihelion on the 27th<\/sup> at 0.31 astronomical units from the sun. Look for Venus and the southern donkey to be very close on September 2nd<\/sup>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Venus<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Also in the morning, Uranus can be found near the Pleiades. It’s moving directly (eastward) but slowing down ahead of going retrograde next month. Binoculars are usually needed to find Uranus, although it’s just bright enough to be seen with the average naked eye.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Uranus<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Saturn’s up that time of morning, just west of the meridian at dawn for most observers. The ringed planet is moving slowly retrograde. The southern side of the rings are visible in sufficiently magnified views. Also in magnified views, you can spot Neptune nearby. It and Saturn are moving retrograde. Saturn is moving faster and getting farther from Neptune as the month goes on.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Saturn<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"Magnified<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

In the evening, Mars is approaching Zavijava in Virgo as August starts. They’ll be very close on the 2nd<\/sup>. Observers in eastern Brazil get to see them at their closest. The red planet keeps moving eastward in Virgo, passing Zaniah on the 14th<\/sup> and 15th<\/sup>. It’s not quite as close to Porrima as it passes around the 23rd<\/sup>. Mars will trek north of Spica in September.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Mars<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"Mars<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The moon’s circumstances this month<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Mars<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"Mars<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The moon is at first quarter on the 1st<\/sup> and also at apogee 404,200 kilometers away. The moon passes in front of Antares on the 4th<\/sup> for observers on the southern tip of South America, in ocean areas of the far south Pacific and Atlantic oceans, and on the Antarctic Peninsula. Southern lunistice is on the 5th<\/sup> at 28.5\u00b0 from the equator. Full moon is on the 9th<\/sup>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"WinOccult
WinOccult visibility map for the occultation of Antares on August 4, 2025<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

See the moon 3.6\u00b0 from Saturn and 2.6\u00b0 from Neptune on the 12th<\/sup>. The moon’s crossing the equator northward that day. Perigee is on the 14th<\/sup> at 369,200 kilometers. Last quarter occurs on the 16th<\/sup> when the moon’s also 5.2\u00b0 from Uranus. Northern lunistice is on the 18th<\/sup> at 28.6\u00b0 north declination. The moon is 4.7\u00b0 from Jupiter on the 19th<\/sup>. Then see the moon 2.4\u00b0 from Pollux and 4.7\u00b0 from Venus on the 20th<\/sup>. Venus and Pollux will be 7.2\u00b0 apart that day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"The<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Mercury gets a visit from the moon with a 3.4\u00b0 separation on the 21st<\/sup>. New moon happens on the 23rd<\/sup>. And the moon goes south of the equator on the 25th<\/sup>. See the moon near Mars, 2.5\u00b0 separation, on the 26th<\/sup>. The next night, the moon passes by Spica. Apogee occurs on the 29th<\/sup> at 404,500 kilometers. And on the 31st<\/sup>, we have a first quarter phase and another Antares occultation. Southernmost New Zealand and ocean areas nearby get the view.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"WinOccult
WinOccult visibility map for the moon occulting Antares on August 31, 2025<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Perseid prospects<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

You can look for Perseid meteors during the first three weeks of tis month, but the shower’s peak is expected around the 12th<\/sup>. The International Meteor Organization expects Earth to pass through an old comet trail at 13:15 UT on that day. That will increase the number of meteors. However, that’s just a few days after a full moon, so many of the dimmer meteors will not be seen. The parent comet is 109P\/Swift-Tuttle. At their best, the Perseids can produce around 100 meteors per hour.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Morning sky watchers get a nice view of two planets and the moon close together as they rise this month. The setup is worth watching from the start of August. On the 1st, you’ll see Venus just over the club Orion holds and just below the feet of twin Castor in Gemini. Jupiter is closer […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[64],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1290","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-64"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.skycaramba.com\/monthly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1290","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.skycaramba.com\/monthly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.skycaramba.com\/monthly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.skycaramba.com\/monthly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.skycaramba.com\/monthly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1290"}],"version-history":[{"count":17,"href":"https:\/\/www.skycaramba.com\/monthly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1290\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1323,"href":"https:\/\/www.skycaramba.com\/monthly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1290\/revisions\/1323"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.skycaramba.com\/monthly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1290"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.skycaramba.com\/monthly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1290"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.skycaramba.com\/monthly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1290"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}