SkyEye

Welcome to SkyEye, your guide to this month's celestial events.

August 2008

All times and dates are given in Universal Time (UT).
Nightly darkness estimates are calculated for 45° N and 30° S.
Like total solar eclipses, lunar occultation events can be seen only from limited regions on Earth (and sometimes not at all if the occultation takes place during daylight hours). However, the Moon will appear close in the sky to its "target" for some hours either side of the actual occultation, regardless of where you are.

Date		Event
1	Mon	A cross-quarter day occurs midway between solstices and equinoxes.
		New Moon
		Total solar eclipse
2	Tue
3	Wed
4	Thu
5	Fri
6	Sat
7	Sun
8	Mon	First Quarter Moon
9	Tue
10	Wed	Moon at apogee
10	Wed	Moon occults first-magnitude star Antares: visible from the southern tip of South Africa from about 19:00 UT.
11	Thu
12	Fri	The waxing gibbous Moon provides some interference early in the night but it sets just after midnight, leaving the sky to the famous Perseid meteor shower.
13	Sat
14	Sun
15	Mon	Neptune at opposition
16	Tue	Full Moon
16	Tue	Partial lunar eclipse
17	Wed
18	Thu
19	Fri
20	Sat
21	Sun
22	Mon
23	Tue	Last Quarter Moon
24	Wed
25	Thu
26	Fri	Moon at perigee
27	Sat
28	Sun
29	Mon
30	Tue	New Moon: The second New Moon in a month is sometimes known as a Black Moon.
31	Wed	Dark skies favour this year's appearance of the poorly observed Alpha Aurigid meteor shower.

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. Dwarf planets and small solar-system bodies including comets, are not so constrained, often moving far above or below the ecliptic.

Sun: Cancer -> Leo
Mercury: Cancer -> Leo -> Virgo
After undergoing superior conjunction late last month, Mercury reappears in the evening sky early this month. It never strays far from the horizon when viewed from the northern hemisphere but observers in the south will watch it climb higher than Venus by next month.
Venus: Leo -> Virgo
The "evening star" remains stubbornly close to the western horizon when seen from northern vantage points but rewards southern hemisphere observers by climbing twice as high in the sky. Look for Venus and Saturn close together in the sunset sky on 13 August.
Mars: Leo -> Virgo
The red planet is getting harder and harder to find low in the west at sunset.
Jupiter: Sagittarius
This giant planet was at opposition last month and is up most of the night. It is the only bright planet that is easy to see.
Saturn: Leo
The ringed planet sets just after the Sun and just before Mars. It has a close encounter with Venus on 13 August.
Uranus: Aquarius
With opposition approaching next month, Uranus is up nearly all night. It rises as Saturn sets.
Neptune: Capricornus
A small telescope is necessary to view the most distant planet in the solar system. Neptune is at opposition on 15 August but is eighth magnitude at best.

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...

Consult our online glossary for non-technical explanations of many of the astronomical terms used in these pages.
Blue moons, eclipses, the dates of Easter and much more can be found at the Interactive Astronomy Pages.
For more information about the objects and events described in SkyEye, visit these astronomy-related sites.

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 variable star V838 Monocerotis in the SkyEye banner is courtesy of NASA, ESA and the Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA). Located 20,000 light years away in the constellation of Monoceros, V838 Mon temporarily brightened in early 2002. The reason for this outburst is not understood. The resulting light echo, the light from the stellar explosion illuminating the dust surrounding the the star, was captured by the Hubble Space Telescope in October of that year.