August offers chance to see supermoon and more
If you think you will win the lottery “once in a blue moon,” this month might be the time to plunk down a buck for a ticket.
And August has not only a “blue moon” but also a nearly monthlong Perseid meteor shower and an uncommon swap as two planets move out of sight and two others come on stage. Oh, and there is also a “supermoon,” when that body’s elliptical orbit brings it closest to earth.
A “blue moon” by legend can occur in two different ways. As this one is, it’s the second full moon of the calendar month. The other “blue moon” occurs when it is the third full moon when there are four full moons between an equinox and solstice. There will be one of those in August 2024.
Why “blue”? In the 16th century, a common expression for something that was impossible was “when the moon is blue.” While not impossible, “blue moons” are rare, with one occurring about every 33 full moons. That works out to about 41 times every 100 years. Rarer still is a calendar year with two blue moons — about once every 25 years.
The first full moon came at midafternoon Aug. 1, and the second will be Aug. 30 at 9:26 p.m.
Oh, and both full moons this month are called “supermoons,” meaning the moons orbit around the earth, which is not a true circle, bring the moon closest to the earth. These moons appear about 16% brighter and 8% larger. Coming even closer to the earth is the Perseid meteor shower — a visual show with meteorites burning up in the atmosphere, creating streaks across the sky.
There is no need for a telescope, and NASA has produced a website devoted to photographing the streakers.
The “shower” occurs Aug. 12 to 13 and produces about 110 meteorites per hour. Those meteorites appear to be coming from the constellation Perseus, located in the northern sky near Andromeda and Cassiopeia.
The “meteorites” are the debris of Comet Swift-Tuttle, discovered in 1862. The comet, estimated to be about 16 miles in diameter, is in a 133-year orbit of the sun and was closest to the sun in 1992.
Its non-circular orbit takes it around the sun and out as far as Jupiter.
In the last “Big Time Space Act,” we have the exit of Venus and Mars from nighttime viewing and entering stage overhead will be Saturn and Jupiter.
For these viewings, a telescope is best, but even an inexpensive one will do.
Saturn “rises” in the sky about 9:30 p.m., and as the evening wears on, it will be visible with the naked eye in the southeastern sky.
To see the planet’s famous rings — which are only a couple of hundred miles high — a telescope is a necessity. A good 6-inch telescope will bring the planet’s moon into view.
There are models available for under $100 that also have the ability to take pictures with a cellphone.
Even though Jupiter, as the largest planet in the solar system, is bright as celestial objects go, that same telescope will bring it into photographical view to see its four moons. Galileo’s telescope was small, but he was able to describe the moons in 1610.
Each night offers a different position of those moons as they orbit the planet.
A small telescope also will show the bands of clouds on Jupiter’s surface as well as one of the famous “landmarks” of our solar system, the Great Red Spot — a small dot on the surface, but in reality as big around as the entire Earth.
Ahead on the calendar is September, with less humidity in the atmosphere for clearer viewing, yet warm enough to stand outside and wonder at the wonders of the universe.