Night Sky News compiled by Andrew Leven

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Surveying the Sky This Month - Observers Notes

CURRENT MOON

moon info

Observing Notes

These sightings are for the middle of the month. There will be slight variations throughout the month.

Planets

	Rises	Sets	Mag.	Comment
Mercury		2120	–0.38	very close to Saturn in Leo
Venus		2126	-3.62	also very close to Saturn
Mars		2147	1.97	in Virgo
Jupiter	1910	0216	-2.0	in Sagittarius - it crosses the meridian at 2237
Saturn		2125	1.35	is in Leo and sets low in the west
Uranus	2130	0855	5.93	in Aquarius
Neptune	2044	0604	7.84	in Capricornus

Comets

There are no significant comets this month.

Meteors

TThe most significant shower this month is the Perseids which peaks around August 12th. They are active until August 20th. This shower originates from the periodic comet Swift/Tuttle. They are swift indeed and there are many bright events and trains. The Eta Aquarids peaks on August 6th. There is a double radiant but the meteors are faint. The Alpha Capricornids peak on 2nd August. They are bright yellow and slow.

Shower	Period	Peak	ZHR
Iota Aquarids	Jul 15^th - Aug 25^th	August 6^th
Perseids	Jul 23^rd - Aug 20^th	August 12^th
Alpha Capricornids	Jul 15^th - Aug 25^th	August 2^nd

Stars

Stars to look for this month are Vega, Altair, Regulus and Antares.

Antares in Scorpio. Low down in the south at 1030. Magnitude 1.05. Distance 603 light years.
Vega in Lyra. Magnitude 0.0. Distance 25.3 light years.
Altair in Aquila. Magnitude 0.75. Distance 16.8 light years.

Nebulae

The Pleiades in Taurus has magnitude 1.2 and the Dumbell in Vulpecula has a magnitude of 7.3.

Clusters

Clusters to look for are M34 in Perseus at magnitude 5.2, M2, a globular in Aquarius, M15, a globular in Pegasus and M29, an open cluster in Cygnus. The double cluster in Perseus has a magnitude of 4.06 so can be picked out with the eye or with binoculars.

Galaxies

Look for M31 in Andromeda at magnitude 3.5. Don’t expect a Hubble type image unless you possess a big, big scope.

Asteroids

Look for Vesta in Cetus magnitude 6.91. It rises at 2335. Look at the background stars to detect this one.

Compiled by Andrew A. Leven

Other sources of Sky news and related information:

The times of occultations according to location may be determined at the International Occultation Timing Association (IOTA) web site
Comet Rendezvous Calendar
Jodrell Bank Night Sky Observing Podcasts
More meteor for this month info click here and here(ed.)
What's Up in Universe Today(ed.)