A Guide To The Night Sky for August 2014

- by Tre Gibbs, LAAS

Hello again Skygazers!  August is going to be a great month for viewing several interesting celestial events, as two Gods collide…and a former wanderer gracefully slips by.

Let’s begin by surveying the night sky in August.  What you can expect to find are two planets – Mars, The God of War and Saturn, the quintessential ringed God of Agriculture.  In the early part of the month, Mars rises about 1.30 pm, and Saturn follows about an hour later, though the sky will be filled with vast amounts of scattered sunlight to be able to see them – you’ll have to wait for sunset.  As Earth rotates to the east, the planets will appear to slowly shift to the west, where they will eventually set.  At Sunset, both planets will be positioned high in the south-southwest, with Mars glowing pink and Saturn a little further east of it.  Mars is fairly easy to spot but Saturn, because of it’s distance from us (883 million miles away – or 79 light minutes), is much harder to spot since, from Earth, it will look very similar to a distant star.

in the twilight of August 2nd, low in the southwest, you will find a beautiful crescent moon positioned with Mars and followed by Saturn, as the three head slowly towards the western horizon. The following night, August 3rd, the slightly bigger, waxing crescent moon is positioned directly between Mars and Saturn, and on the following night, August 4th, the now 1st quarter moon trails Mars and Saturn as all three objects head to the west.

As you gaze up at the Heavens, keep in mind that Earth, Mars and Saturn are all orbiting our nearest star, the Sun – although at different speeds. The closer an object is to the sun, the faster it orbits around it.  Now, Mars is closer to the sun than Saturn, so what we will be fortunate enough to see by month’s end, is Mars actually catching up to – and passing Saturn!  On the evenings of the 22nd, 23rd, and 24th, go outside just after dark, look high in the south-southwest and watch The God of War, slip directly under and beyond the mighty Saturn.

For the early risers, you get to see a conjunction as well !  Early in the pre-dawn skies on August 23rd, just before 6 am, low on the eastern horizon will be the three brightest lights in the sky (after the Sun), rising together – the Moon, Venus and Jupiter.  Venus and the Moon are actually heading eastward, towards the glare of the sun, while Jupiter is moving away from it or westward. The following pre-dawn twilight, August 24th, will show you what I mean.

Have a great rest of your summer, be safe and remember to stop and gaze up at the wondrous show happening above our heads.