Tuesday, July 30 Mercury reaches its greatest western elongation today. Look for it low in the east-northeastern sky 45 minutes before sunrise. Although it won’t dazzle you glowing at magnitude 0.2, the innermost planet will hover 10° below Jupiter, which will shine five time as brightly at magnitude –2.0. The peak of the Southern Delta Aquarid meteor shower occurs in the early morning hours before sunrise. From a dark site with no clouds, an observer could expect to see 16 meteors per hour. With the light from the nearly Last Quarter Moon in the sky, however, the faintest meteors will surely be lost. Wednesday, July 31 As the glow of twilight wanes, look overhead and you’ll spot the three bright stars that form the Summer Triangle: Vega in Lyra the Harp, Altair in Aquila the Eagle, and Deneb in Cygnus the Swan. Deneb marks the tail of the Swan, and Albireo is its head. With a telescope, you’ll split Albireo into a beautiful double star that glows gold and sapphire-blue. But the Summer Triangle isn’t the only geometric figure in the fall sky. Look east of that starry triangle for four stars that form the main part of the constellation Pegasus the Winged Horse. Amateur astronomers call this stellar quartet the Great Square, and it’s the easiest way to find the main part of the legendary horse. (That said, the northeastern star of the Square is the brightest star in the constellation Andromeda the Princess.) Thursday, August 1 The variable star Algol in the constellation Perseus the Hero reaches minimum brightness at 12:07 a.m. EDT, about an hour after it rises in the northeast for those in the eastern United States. It then shines at magnitude 3.4 where it will remain for a couple of hours before starting to brighten again. If you spot it the following night, you will see it at its maximum — magnitude 2.1. The Perseids will be the best meteor shower of 2013. Rates start ramping up the first week of August and will peak on the 12th at up to 100 meteors per hour. // John A. Davis Friday, August 2 In just over a week, this year’s best shooting-star show will peak. The Perseid meteor shower is active now (with a few meteors per hour), but you’ll want to be out the mornings of the 12th and the 13th when it’s at its best. Both dates should have about the same level of activity because the actual peak occurs between 2 p.m. and 4 p.m. EDT on the 12th.) From a dark observing site in the hours between midnight and dawn, you may see nearly 100 meteors per hour. Saturday, August 3 The Moon reaches apogee, the farthest point in its orbit around Earth, at 4:54 a.m. EDT. It then lies 252,172 miles (405,832 kilometers) away from us. A waning crescent Moon passes Jupiter, Mars, and Mercury in early August amid the glittering stars we typically associate with winter. // Astronomy: Roen Kelly Sunday, August 4 Look for Mars, shining with a reddish-orange light, 5° north of the Moon at 7 a.m. EDT. Both objects rise two hours before the Sun, so look for them about an hour before our daytime star makes its appearance. Note: Binoculars will help you locate the Moon, which will be only a 5-percent-illuminated fingernail-thin crescent. Related Articles Southern Delta Aquarid meteor shower peaks at the end of July A pair of close encounters Neptune’s summer surge From Astronomy - The Sky this Week
Posted on: Tue, 30 Jul 2013 18:41:53 +0000
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