Welcome to this month’s update to what’s in the night sky for August
Astronomical darkness returns for most of the UK this month which means the skies are truly dark enough for deep-space enthusiasts. In Mid Wales, true darkness falls between midnight and 2.30am at the start of the month and a more respectable 10.12pm and 4.16am at the end. This will obviously be hampered by the Moon’s presence on any given night, so to seek those dark skies, keep an eye on the Moon’s rise and set times here.
The constellations of Cygnus, Lyra are still well-placed in the night sky at 10pm. Sagittarius lies directly on the southern horizon. Boötes with its bright orange star Arcturus, moves westwards.
Eastwards, the joint constellations of Pegasus and Andromeda lie underneath the w-shaped Cassiopeia and the house-shaped constellation of Cepheus, with Perseus and Ursa Major dominating the north. Draco is positioned high on the zenith (the area of sky directly above your head).
The New Moon occurs on 4th August and the Full Moon on 19th August.
Perseid Meteor Shower
The Perseid Meteor Shower peaks on the night of 12th August and the early morning of 13th August. It is thought to be the most spectacular meteor shower event of the year, producing the highest number of shooting stars per hour of around 100. The debris comes from the residual material of comet Swift Tuttle burning up in our atmosphere. The radiant originated from the constellation of Perseus but has moved in relatively recent times to the region of Camelopardalis. The Moon will be 51% full but will set at around 11pm.
Join the Elan Valley Dark Sky Team on 12th August where you will be in good company to watch the peak of the Perseid Meteor Shower. We will also have our telescopes to hand so you can have a tour of the sparkling treasures of the night. THIS IS A WEATHER-DEPENDANT EVENT so please book here.
Saturn and Moon Occultation
On the morning of 21st August, Saturn will approach the Moon and will pass behind it. You can enjoy watching the approach of the planet until it passes behind the Moon at 4.35am and emerges from the lower right quadrant at around 5am. It’s well worth getting up early for as it is a rare event – the last time this happened was in 2007.
Image: Artists impression, ESO/Nico Bartmann/spaceengine.org
Messier 57 – The Ring Nebula
RA 18h 53m 35s | Dec +33° 1′ 45″
For those with telescopes of apertures of more than 8 inches, the Ring Nebula is worth studying. Situated in the constellation of Lyra, you can find it by using the coordinates above or using a method such as star hopping.
Find the brightest star Vega at the top of the constellation and look for an elongated parallelogram with a star at each corner. Find the two top stars and move your eyes to the bottom two – the Ring Nebula sits just over the halfway point between those two bottom corner stars.
It will appear as a tiny white oval in your telescope. The Ring Nebula is a planetary nebula, which comprises the outer layers of a dying star. This sketch, provided by kind permission from Michael Vlasov of deepskywatch.com provides an approximate view of the Ring Nebula as seen through an 8 inch telescope.
Take a look at the star in the centre of this nebula, imaged by NASA/ESA – you are looking at the core of this dying star, also known as a white dwarf. You will not be able to see this in a smaller telescope; in fact, you would need a gigantic telescope of 16 inches of aperture and above in a very dark sky. Its fusion reactions have ceased and what you are looking at is the residual energy cooling slowly – but still sizzling at a temperature of 100,000 Kelvins (99,726 Degrees Celsius). It is thought that these stars can take around a billion years to cool.
The ‘Return’ of the Milky Way
Just look to the south as darkness falls and watch this beautiful unaided-eye object emerge into the night sky – it will look like a hazy band of light, stretching from the south and arching majestically over your head, which comprises the Sagittarius arm of our galaxy.
Image by Sean Gates
There are various mythologies surrounding this; according to the book Dark Land, Dark Skies (by Martin Griffiths), the Welsh places the Milky Way as a heavenly river called Sarn Gwydion, which represents the road that magician and hero Gwydion travelled on to rescue the soul of Lleu, his nephew and return him to life.
