A joy to watch

Ken Kennedy, of Dundee Astronomical Society, tells us what we can expect to see in the August sky.

“In some ways, August and September are the best months to get out and look at the night sky,” he says. “Nights are becoming longer and darker but temperatures are pleasant and far removed from the freezing conditions of the winter months.

“If you can find a dark place to view from it’s well worth taking in the sights of the summer sky. Let your eyes become adapted to the dark then look for the cross formed by Cygnus, the Swan, high overhead. If there is no moon in the sky you should be able to see the Milky Way which passes through Cygnus.

“The Milky Way passes almost across the sky at this time of year, crossing Perseus towards the north-east, then through Cassiopeia, Cygnus and southwards through Aquila.

“August has arrived following what has been a warm summer with unusually clear skies. I’m sure we all hope this will continue but especially for the annual firework display of the Perseid meteor shower. The Perseid shower is one of the best meteor showers of the year and, if skies are clear, are a joy to watch.

“It is especially recommended for viewing this year as the moon, which often masks many fainter meteors, is only two days old at meteor maximum on the 13th. Even better is the fact that calculations show the maximum to be at 1am on the 13th, so the best night to observe will be August 12/13.

“This peak sometimes falls during daylight and the best hours are lost, but for a few hours around maximum we might expect to see more than 80 meteors per hour. Try to find a dark place to observe from and look, without any optical aid, towards the darkest part of the sky. Allow your eyes to become adapted to the darkness and you should see fast streaks of light crossing the sky.

“Mercury will be low in the east after sunset from August 23, brightening until the end of the month. Venus is still very bright but will become lower in the sky during August. Mars has passed its closest point to earth and is still bright but will slowly become dimmer. Very low towards the south at around 11.30pm by south-west, Saturn sky “Jupiter its and orange is will you low can in should colour. appear setting the be found northern be like at able quite around a moderately to hemisphere low identify 10pm. in the it bright 4th, “The new star moon on in the the is 11th, south at last first at quarter quarter around on 10pm. on the the 18th on August and full 11 brings on the 26th. a partial The solar new eclipse moon which is just visible in the most northerly parts of Scotland. Maximum will occur at around 9.45pm. I wouldn’t recommend a mass migration to Orkney or Shetland to see this as only 2% of the solar disc will be covered by the moon.”