What's Up?

This page shows a brief summary of what interesting things we can see in the sky this month.  

A more detailed version of 'What's Up' this month is available as a downloadable Word document right at the bottom of this page. 

• A much better month for observing as the nights are drawing in. 
• By mid-month it will be dark by 9 o'clock. 
• Perseus, Andromeda and even the lovely Pleiades grace the midnight sky. 
• For the insomniacs The Christmas constellation of Orion can be found in the dawn sky.
• Some evening planets come out to play.

The Sun

The Sun is becoming more active; buy a decent solar filter and watch it.

The Moon

The phases of the Moon are as follows:

• First Quarter -5th August
• Full Moon - 12th August
• Last Quarter - 19th August
• New Moon - 27th August

Darkest nights for observing will be from 23rd to 31st August. 

Mercury becomes an evening object this month, best on the 27th in the dusk.

Venus is a morning object, but low in the sunrise and difficult to find.

Mars rises just after midnight not far from the Pleiades

Jupiter rises about 11:00pm in Pisces, near the moon on 15th August.

Saturn is at opposition on the on 14th August so easy to find in Capricorn.

Uranus rises at midnight right next to Mars on 1st August in Pisces,

Neptune, near Jupiter is visible after 11:00pm.

Pluto was at opposition last month in Sagittarius. It is still visible from dark till 2:00am.

Minor Planets

Asteroid 4 Vesta (has a minor planet designation) and is one of the largest objects in the asteroid belt, is at opposition at magnitude 5.8 so visible even in binoculars

Comets

Comet K2 is low down in Ophiuchus.

Meteors

The August Perseid shower peaks on the night of the 12th and 13th, this, the best shower of the year, but will be spoiled by light from the Full Moon.

Deep Sky

Good objects this month are:

• M57 - the Ring Nebula in Lyra between Gamma and Beta Lyrae, not difficult to locate.
• M5 in Serpens caput and M13 in Hercules are the best Globular clusters in the Northern hemisphere, visible in binoculars, but better in telescopes.
• If you do go south for a holiday, take some binoculars and look in the galactic centre for M11 - the Wild duck cluster, M16 the Eagle nebula, M8 The Lagoon Nebula, M20 the Triffid Nebula, M6 The Butterfly Cluster and M24 - the Great Sagittarius Star Cloud.

Television

The Sky at night - Sunday August 14th 8:30pm, on BBC4. The Webb Telescope.