{"id":832,"date":"2022-08-01T02:44:21","date_gmt":"2022-08-01T02:44:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.skycaramba.com\/monthly\/?p=832"},"modified":"2022-08-01T02:44:58","modified_gmt":"2022-08-01T02:44:58","slug":"august-2022","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.skycaramba.com\/monthly\/august-2022\/","title":{"rendered":"August 2022"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Moon’s movements<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Our\nAugust evenings start with a crescent moon setting and Mercury below\nit in Leo. The messenger planet is hard to see at first from the\nnorthern hemisphere. But keep looking night to night and it’ll show\nup. On the opposite side of the sky, Saturn’s rising in Capricornus.\nThe waxing moon moves through Virgo from the 1st<\/sup>\nthrough the 4th<\/sup>.\nDuring that time Mercury passes Regulus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\nfirst quarter moon moves through Libra on the 5th<\/sup>.\nIt’s in the head of Scorpius the next night. Many of us at\nmid-northern latitudes get our best view of the constellation this\ntime of year right as darkness begins. After passing south of\nOphiuchus on the 7th<\/sup>,\nthe moon’s in Sagittarius on the 8th<\/sup>\nand 9th<\/sup>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On\nthe 10th<\/sup>,\na waxing gibbous moon is on the western side of Capricornus. It’ll\njoin Saturn on the eastern side the next night and become full on the\n12th<\/sup>\nin Aquarius. By that time, back on the western side of the evening\nsky, Mercury’s beneath the belly of Leo. It’s still a challenge for\nnorthern hemisphere viewers. With more than two week until greatest\nelongation, just keep trying.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jupiter\nis visited by a waning gibbous moon on the evening of the 14th<\/sup>\nto morning of the 15th<\/sup>.\nThe big planet is alongside the southern fish in Pisces. The moon is\nalmost at last quarter as it passes by Uranus on the morning of the\n18th<\/sup>.\nLast quarter is the next day when the moon passes by Mars. You’ll see\nthe red planet close on the south side and the Pleiades on the north.\nThe moon wanes to a crescent and goes west of the Hyades V on the\n20th<\/sup>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A\nthinner crescent passes by the star Elnath on the 21st<\/sup>.\nFrom the 22nd<\/sup>\nthrough 24th<\/sup>,\nthe moon passes through Gemini. Both twins are easily visible on late\nAugust mornings with Orion completely visible too to the south of\nthem.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This\nmonth’s Venus-moon close call is on the 25th<\/sup>.\nThe moon is You can try to find the very thin crescent moon below\nVenus on the 26th<\/sup>\nas it heads into the morning light.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After\nnew moon on the 27th<\/sup>,\nthe moon is a waxing crescent again on the evening of the 28th<\/sup>.\nIt’s right of Mercury one day past its greatest elongation. This may\nbe the best chance for northern hemisphere sky watcher to positively\nidentify the messenger planet. The thickening crescent moon moves\nthrough Virgo the remaining evenings of the month.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Moon circumstances<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\nmoon goes south over the equator on the 2nd<\/sup>.\nSouthern lunistice is on the 9th<\/sup>\nat 27.0\u00b0. The moon crosses the equator going north on the 15th<\/sup>.\nNorthern lunistice is on the 22nd<\/sup>\nat 27.1\u00b0. The moon crosses the equator southward again on the 29th<\/sup>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

First\nquarter is on the 5th<\/sup>\nat 11:07 UT. Full moon is on the 12th<\/sup>\nat 01:36. Last quarter is on the 19th<\/sup>\nat 04:37. And new moon is on the 27th<\/sup>\nat 08:18.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Perigee\nis on the 10th<\/sup>\nat 359,800 km or 223,600 mi. Apogee is on the 22nd<\/sup>\nat 405,400 km or 251,900 mi.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Planets<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mercury\nis an evening object. It spends about the first third of the month in\nLeo. It doesn’t progress much into Virgo after that. The planet is at\naphelion on the 23rd<\/sup>.\nIt’s 0.467 astronomical units fro the sun. Greatest elongation is\n27.3\u00b0 east of the sun on the 27th<\/sup>.\nThe planet and the sun are at a low angle to the horizon for northern\nhemisphere viewers. The Mercury-sun line is at a right angle to the\nhorizon from about 25\u00b0 south though. For lucky observers there, the\nplanet sets two hours after the sun.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Saturn’s\nat opposition on the 14th<\/sup>.\nIt’s 8.86 astronomical units from Earth on that date. For the first\nhalf of the month, you can see the planet rising sooner and sooner\nafter sunset until opposition when it rises and sets opposite the sun\nsetting and rising. After that, the ringed planet is already up when\nthe sun goes down and you can see it higher in the sky each night as\ndarkness begins. Also, look at Saturn in a telescope to see the gas\nball’s shadow on the rings move from one side of the disk to the\nother. Around opposition, you may see a little shadow on each side.\nIf your scope gives you such a view, try to also see the Cassini\nDivision. It’s a gap in the rings. Saturn’s moon Mimas clears out the\nmaterial there. Saturn’s retrograde all month in the eastern end of\nCapricornus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\nJupiter is retrograde. Although it’s alongside Pisces, it’s on the\nCetus side of the boundary between the two constellations. It will be\nat opposition next month. You can start watching the big planet in a\ntelescope to see its disk getting slightly bigger.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mars\nstarts the month close to Uranus. Mars is easy to see with the naked\neye after midnight between the Pleiades and the head of Cetus. Uranus\nrequires a telscope for most people, even though it’s just bright\nenough to be a naked eye object. Bright enough to see unaided doesn’t\nalways mean big enough to see unaided. Orange Mars and blue Uranus\ncast their complementary colors 1.3\u00b0 apart on the 1st<\/sup>\nand 2nd<\/sup>.\nUranus stays almost exactly in the same spot among the stars all\nmonth while Mars moves eastward.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\nAlthough Mars is moving in the opposite direction as the stars behind\nit, they’re all rising earlier each morning. It’s on a trajectory\nthat will place it between the Pleiades and the Hyades in the last\nfew days of August.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On\nthe first morning of the month, Venus is closing in on Wasat in\nGemini. It passes just 0.2\u00b0 from the star at 9 to 10 hours UT on the\n2nd<\/sup>.\nYou’ll have to be in the eastern Pacific Ocean to see them so close.\nElsewhere, where the planet is up, so is the sun. Easter Island and\nSala-y-Gomez are well positioned for it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As\nthe twins move up the pre-dawn eastern sky, Venus moves down. It’s\nfirmly in Cancer by the 17th<\/sup>\nand 18th<\/sup>\nwhen it’s in the Beehive cluster. That’s worth a look in binoculars.\nOn the 18th<\/sup>,\nit’s nearest Asellus Australis. The star on the other side of the\nBeehive is Asellus Borealis. They are the northern and southern\ndonkeys, respectively. The Beehive cluster, now named for how it\nlooks with magnification, has long been referred to as a manger from\nwhich the two donkeys feed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\nIn the last days of August, you may get a glimpse of Leo’s head with\nVenus in the vicinity of Algenubi.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\nasteroid Vesta is at opposition on the 22nd<\/sup>.\nIt’s an easy target for low magnification in dark skies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\nPerseid meteor shower could peak at 01 hours UT on the 13th<\/sup>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Moon’s movements Our August evenings start with a crescent moon setting and Mercury below it in Leo. The messenger planet is hard to see at first from the northern hemisphere. But keep looking night to night and it’ll show up. On the opposite side of the sky, Saturn’s rising in Capricornus. The waxing moon moves […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[61],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-832","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-61"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.skycaramba.com\/monthly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/832","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=832"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.skycaramba.com\/monthly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/832\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":833,"href":"https:\/\/www.skycaramba.com\/monthly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/832\/revisions\/833"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.skycaramba.com\/monthly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=832"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.skycaramba.com\/monthly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=832"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.skycaramba.com\/monthly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=832"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}