What's in the Sky: New Moon Aug. 4

Once again, bright planets are pretty much confined to the early morning skies. Saturn now peeks above the eastern evening horizon by about 10 p.m. early in the month, and is up shortly after 8 p.m. at the end of the month. If you look low in the southeast it will be easy to pick out, much brighter than surrounding stars.

September will present better viewing of Saturn, as it rises higher in the evening sky. Venus will be visible right after sunset in August, hugging the western horizon. 

If you are up early, check out the eastern morning sky. You’ll find the planets Jupiter and Mars in the constellation Taurus. Just above them will be the star cluster Pleiades. On Aug. 26, the Moon will be just to the left of Jupiter. On the morning of Aug. 14, Mars will be very close to Jupiter, just above and to the left of the solar system’s giant planet.

August’s new Moon will come on the 4th, with full Moon following on the 19th. The Moon and Saturn will be close to each other on August 21.

The popular Perseid meteor shower will be at maximum on Aug. 11-12. Best viewing will be after midnight. The waxing crescent Moon will be in the evening sky, but will set by 11 p.m. (Aug. 11) and by 11:30 p.m. (Aug. 12). If you are eager to see shower and want to stay up late, the Goldendale Observatory will have its gates open for viewing after midnight until 4 a.m. early Monday morning. Check the Observatory web page (www.goldendaleobservatory.com) and look under “special events” for details. If you do not have reservations for the Sunday evening program, you’ll have to wait until midnight before the gates open.

An interesting little constellation in our August evening sky is Delphinus, the dolphin. Although small and not composed of very bright stars, Delphinus can easily be picked out in dark skies, with a cluster of four stars making a diamond shape. Add a fifth star to the right of the cluster, and you have the shape of the dolphin (OK, use your imagination a bit). Find Delphinus just to the left of the bright star Altair, and below the bright star Vega, in the eastern evening sky. Check out the picture with this column for help. The brightest star in the constellation is on the right side of the diamond, and is named Rotanev. The star at the top of the diamond, to the left of Rotanev, is called Sualocin. They were named in 1814 by an Italian astronomer, Nicolaus Venator, an assistant at the Palmero Observatory in Italy. Can you guess how he came up with those names? Yup, they are his first and last names spelled backwards!

Enjoy August’s skies!