Welcome to SkyEye, your guide to this month's celestial events. All times and dates are given in Universal Time (UT). Nightly darkness estimates are calculated for Greenwich, London (51.5° N, 0° W).

Calendar of Events - August 2005

Date Event
1 Mon
2 Tue
3 Wed
4 Thu Moon at apogee
5 Fri New Moon
Mercury at inferior conjunction
6 Sat
7 Sun
8 Mon Dark skies greet this year's apparition of the northern branch of the Delta Aquariids meteor shower.
Moon occults Venus during daylight hours.
Neptune at opposition
9 Tue
10 Wed Moon occults Jupiter during daylight hours.
11 Thu
12 Fri The young Moon should offer no light interference for this year's Perseids meteor shower.
13 Sat First Quarter Moon
14 Sun Moon occults first-magnitude star Antares: visible from Indonesia and northern Australia from about 1300 UT.
15 Mon
16 Tue
17 Wed
18 Thu
19 Fri Moon at perigee
Full Moon: high tides can be expected whenever Full Moon and perigee occur close together.
20 Sat
21 Sun
22 Mon
23 Tue Mercury at greatest elongation west
24 Wed
25 Thu
26 Fri Last Quarter Moon
27 Sat
28 Sun
29 Mon
30 Tue
31 Wed

The Solar System

The word planet is derived from the Greek word for "wanderer." Unlike the background stars, planets seem to move around the sky, keeping mostly to a narrow track called the ecliptic, the path of the Sun across the stars.

Sun
Location: Cancer -> Leo
Mercury
Location: Cancer -> Leo
At conjunction on 5 August, the closest planet to the Sun doesn't reappear in the morning sky until mid-month. It stays close to the horizion for those observing it from the southern hemisphere but it jumps much higher in the twilight for viewers in the northern hemisphere, descending only slightly after greatest elongation west on 23 August.
Venus
Location: Leo -> Virgo
The "evening star" never rises very high for northern hemisphere observers but continues to climb high in the west for those in the south. It has a close encounter with another bright planet, Jupiter, at the end of the month.
Mars
Location: Pisces -> Aries
Now rising before midnight, the best views of the red planet come during the early morning hours before dawn.
Jupiter
Location: Virgo
The largest planet in the solar system sets ever earlier and makes a brilliant pair with Venus at the end of the month.
Saturn
Location: Cancer
The ringed planet reached conjunction last month and has switched from the evening sky to the morning. Look for it in the east just ahead of the rising Sun.
Uranus
Location: Aquarius
Uranus is up practically all night as it approaches opposition next month.
Neptune
Location: Capricornus
Reaching opposition on 8 August means that this gas giant is visible (through a small telescope) all night.
Pluto
Location: Serpens (Cauda)
With a brightness of around fourteenth magnitude, the smallest planet in the solar system can be seen only through a good-sized telescope. Look for Pluto before it sets just after midnight.

The Celestial Sphere

Constellations are patterns of stars in the sky. The International Astronomical Union (IAU) recognises 88 different constellations. The brightest stars as seen from the Earth are easy to spot but do you know their proper names? With a set of binoculars you can look for fainter objects such as nebulae and galaxies or some of the closest stars to the Sun.

Descriptions of the sky for observers in both the northern and southern hemispheres are available for the following times this month. Subtract one hour from your local time if summer (daylight savings) time is in effect.

Local Time Northern Hemisphere Southern Hemisphere
1730 hours (1830 hours summer time) 45° N 30° S
1930 hours (2030 hours summer time) 45° N 30° S
2130 hours (2230 hours summer time) 45° N 30° S
2330 hours (0030 hours summer time) 45° N 30° S
0130 hours (0230 hours summer time) 45° N 30° S
0330 hours (0430 hours summer time) 45° N 30° S
0530 hours (0630 hours summer time) 45° N 30° S

For More Information...

Credits

Much of this information can be found in this month's issue of your favourite amateur astronomy magazine available in your local bookshop. Another excellent source is the current edition of the Astronomical Calendar by Guy Ottewell and published by the Universal Workshop at Furman University.

The image of the Sun in the SkyEye banner is courtesy of the SOHO/EIT consortium. The composite image from May 1998 combines EIT images from three wavelengths (171Å, 195Å and 284Å) into one that reveals solar features unique to each wavelength. SOHO is a project of international cooperation between ESA and NASA.

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