August is always a terrific month for stargazing.
Not only do we have the beautiful Milky Way arching overhead during evening hours, folks willing to stay up quite late will get to see meteors from the annual Perseid meteor shower.
And this August, early morning skywatchers will get to watch a very close conjunction of the planets Mars and Jupiter.
Let’s start with the Perseid meteor shower. Regular readers of my columns know this sky show occurs when the Earth slams into the dusty debris expelled by Comet Swift-Tuttle.
As this cometary litter plows into our upper atmosphere, it burns up and produces the phenomena we know as meteors.
Hard to believe, but most of these are specks no larger than a grain of sand and are extinguished at heights of 50 miles or higher.
This year’s peak occurs after the moon sets on the morning of Monday, Aug. 12, but you’ll be able to see plenty of meteors over the weekend.
For the best view, set up under rural skies far from city lights. The best tools to use are just your eyes, but binoculars might be helpful to check out long smoke trails left behind by any exploding fireballs.
Take a reclining lawn chair or sleeping bag, and gaze toward the northern and northeastern sky, but be sure to scan the entire heavens because meteors can appear anywhere.
While you’re up late (or early!), you’ll also get to see the stars of winter make their first appearance.
Most prominent will be Orion, the hunter, rising in the southeast after 3 a.m.
Nearby you’ll notice the most brilliant “star” in the sky. It’s not a star, however — it’s the giant planet Jupiter.
Another solar system world lies nearby — the red planet Mars — though it’s about 16 times fainter and will be camouflaged well against all the bright wintertime stars.
On Aug. 12, Mars lies in the sky only a degree or so above Jupiter; that’s about the width of your little finger held at arm’s length.
Keep watch over the next two mornings as Mars appears to get closer to Jupiter.
By the morning of Wednesday, Aug. 14, the orbital motions of Mars, Jupiter and the Earth will carry it nearly in front of the giant planet, and the two will lie less than one-third of a degree apart.
If you’ve got a small backyard telescope, Wednesday morning will be a great time to set it up.
With a low-powered eyepiece, you’ll have the unusual opportunity to see both planets in the same field of view.
Though these worlds will seem quite close, it’s only because they will appear roughly along our same line of sight.
On that morning, Mars will lie about 142 million miles from Earth and Jupiter 3½ times farther: about 500 million miles from us.
So if Jupiter is so much farther than Mars, why does it appear larger in your telescope? Because Jupiter is a world 21 times larger than Mars!
With the brilliant winter stars, the Perseid meteor shower, and a close conjunction of Mars and Jupiter, it’ll be a great week to be an insomniac!
