Full Moon is on the 6th, rising at 20:48 and setting at 05:51
Last Quarter is on the 13th, rising at 22:30 and setting at 14:44
New Moon is on the 20th, rising at 05:51 and setting at 20:05
First Quarter is on the 27th, rising at 15:34 and setting at 22:22
There is a Partial Lunar Eclipse on the 6th, but you’d be hard pressed to see it. Look between 1am and 3am, the lower left should be slightly dimmer during that time.
On the same night, the Moon will be within 2.5° of Jupiter and Neptune. That’s worth a picture during the eclipse time. On the 16th it’ll be passing within 2.5° of Mars, and within 4° of Venus on the 18th.
The Moon holds the stage for the first half of the month and allows deep sky observers a look in for some of the second half. The nights are beginning to lengthen too, so more time for observing.
Planets.
Saturn will be visible all this month, but very low in the west at dusk. It’ll set an hour and a half after the Sun at the start of the month and within half an hour at the end.
Mercury, similarly, follows the Sun down in the west and spends the month being very close to it at dusk in the west. Dangerous to seek with binoculars all month, but perhaps at the start of the month would be slightly better than later, but not a good month for Mercury in all.
On the other side of the sky we have Jupiter, big and bright, risen by 10pm on the first and by 8pm at the end of August. It’ll be up all night, progressively getting better to see as it reaches its highest point of quite a low 20° above the horizon in the south. The Galilean moons will do their waltzing for you and will also occult each other from time to time, detailed times available is needed from www.donastro.org.uk. There should also be a reasonable amount of detail seen on the disc, but choose a still night.
Neptune will follow Jupiter all month, within 2° at the start and still within 5° by the end. You’ll need a telescope to find it’s tiny blue disc.
Uranus will be rising about an hour after Jupiter and hold station 30° to it’s left, through the month. Brighter than Neptune, and should be visible in binoculars, but wait till it’s well up to see its little blue disc. Both carry methane in their atmospheres, which absorbs the red component in sunlight so making them look blue. Up all night. With a telescope, look for some of its moons.
Next up is Mars, quite bright at mag +1.1, but a very small disc, only 5 seconds of arc, so little detail to be seen. It rises about 1.20am on the 1st and 12.30am on the 31st
Then comes dazzlingly bright Venus, rising at 2.30am on the 1st and an hour later by the month’s end. It’s closer to the Sun than Earth and is already tracking back towards the Sun. It shines at mag –4.0. What does that mean? Brightness is measured in Magnitude, and each whole number is brighter or dimmer than the last whole number, by 2.5 times, smaller numbers mean brighter. So Venus at mag -4 is about 100 times brighter than Mars at +1.
Meteor showers. Several in August, but none with more than 5/hour rates, other than the Perseids, which peak at a hopefully 90/hour. This will be on the Glorious 12th. Unfortunately, there will be a gibbous Moon to contend with this year, quite close to the radiant.
Comets. None within the range of small telescopes this month.
What else? The Autumn and Winter targets are beginning to show themselves in the east now. The Square of Pegasus is well up with Cassiopeia and Perseus close by, followed by Auriga and Taurus, and the top of Orion too, giving us a good mix of nebulae, clusters and galaxies to seek out and observe, and though the nebulae and galaxies will need telescopes to see, the clusters, usually the most beautiful anyway, will be available to anyone with reasonable binoculars steadily held. This includes the Milky Way stretching across the sky from Auriga, through Cassiopeia, Cygnus, Vulpecula, Sagitta and Aquila. Look for it, after rain has washed the sky, it should be visible without optical aid from a reasonably dark site, admittedly difficult in Doncaster.
Satellites. Details obtained from www.heavens-above.com
There are no ISS passes over Doncaster at sensible times this month.
Iridium Flares
3rd 22:38:55 38° up in the NE Very Bright mag -7
4th 22:32:56 39° up in the NE Bright as Jupiter in the south
7th 22:22:19 44° up in the NE even brighter mag -8
Brian