Pay attention: https://soundcloud.com/astrophiz/august-skyguide
Moon Phases for August
New Moon – 4 August – greatest for seeing the faint fuzzies and clusters
Apogee Moon furthest from Earth – 9 August
1st Quarter Moon – 13 August
Full Moon – 20 August
Perigee Moon closest to Earth – 21 August
Final Quarter Moon – 26 August
Night Sky
Comet C/2023 A3 Tsuchinshan is binocular-visible in Leo.
Mercury is a nice sighting early within the evenings in August close to the Western horizon.
Mercury, Regulus and Venus are seen until an hour after sundown
On the sixth, Mercury, Regulus and Venus kind a triangle with the skinny crescent moon.
Venus is climbing larger and changing into extra distinguished because the ‘Night Star’
Saturn is rising about 8:30 within the night and is greatest telescopically just a few hours later when it’s larger.
Saturns Rings are nearly edge on for the time being.
Morning Sky
Mars has been heading in the direction of Jupiter and the horizon, and within the first week of August lands within the constellation Taurus, forming a second purple ‘eye’ with Aldabaran within the bull’s head.
Between the twelfth and seventeenth Mars and Jupiter are lower than a finger width aside, and on the fifteenth, lower than half a finger width aside.
Trying East and North East within the morning, the Pliades Cluster, Hyades Cluster, Mars, Jupiter and Aldabaran are making fascinating patters all through the month.
Capturing a recurrent Nova Explosion
About an hour and a half after sundown when the sky is totally darkish, you look North and a little bit bit West, you’ll spot the intense star Arcturus, then in the event you look down and a little bit to the precise, you’ll see a circle of stars known as Corona Borealis.
The Astrophotography Problem
Take a photograph of Corona Borealis each clear night time throughout August-September to seize the pre-Nova view after which proceed until after TCR-B has gone Nova.
Ian’s Tangent : How can we outline a planet?
We have now a definition of a photo voltaic system planet:
Varieties a sphere underneath its personal gravity.
It should orbit our solar.
It will need to have cleared its personal orbit
Now as a result of we can’t but decide if an exoplanet is a sphere, we now have a proposed definition of an exoplanet,
It should orbit a solar, or suns.
Its mass should be smaller than can have fusion occurring
Its mass should be sufficient to clear its orbit.
Yesterday the ESA launched a picture of a ‘Chilly Jupiter’ named Epsilon Indi Ab.
The planet is a number of occasions the mass of Jupiter and orbits the Okay-type star Epsilon Indi A (Eps Ind A), which is across the age of our Solar, however barely cooler. The workforce noticed Epsilon Indi Ab utilizing the coronagraph on Webb’s MIRI (Mid-Infrared Instrument). Of the 5000+ exoplanets recognized up to now, only some tens of exoplanets have been straight imaged beforehand by space- and ground-based observatories.
“This discovery is thrilling as a result of the planet is sort of much like Jupiter — it’s a little hotter and is extra huge, however is extra much like Jupiter than every other planet that has been imaged thus far,” quoted lead writer Elisabeth Matthews of the Max Planck Institute for Astronomy in Germany.
