Vega, the brightest member of the Summer Triangle, is high in the east at nightfall early in the month and directly overhead by month’s end. By then, Pegasus is in view low in the east, marked by the Great Square. Arcturus, one of the other brilliant stars of summer, is plunging toward the western horizon as August wanes.
The full Moon of August is known as the Grain Moon or Green Corn Moon
Perigee August 10
Apogee August 22
Moon phases are Central Time.
The eye of the bull — the star Aldebaran — stares into the Moon tonight. The brightest star of Taurus is to the lower left of the Moon at nightfall. The Moon will move closer to Aldebaran during the night, to less than the width of a finger held at arm’s length.
Jupiter and Mercury, the largest and smallest of the solar system’s major planets, are getting together in the dawn sky. For the next few days, they will be separated by less than the width of your finger held at arm’s length. Jupiter is the brighter of the two.
As twilight fades away, the zodiac arcs high across the southern sky. It is a trail of constellations with one thing in common: The Sun’s path across the sky traverses their borders, so the Sun passes through each of those constellations during the year.
Today is the beginning of Saturnalia, an ancient Roman festival. The early Christian church may have adopted December 25 as the date for Christmas in part to counteract the appeal of Saturnalia and other festivals.
Messier 37, a 500 million-year-old star cluster, climbs high overhead during the night. It’s not quite visible to the unaided eye, but it’s a fairly easy target for binoculars. It probably is about 5,000 light-years away, and contains about 500 known stars.
Auriga is low in the east-northeast as night falls and climbs high across the sky later. It is marked by a pentagon of stars. It’s easy to pick out thanks to the brightest member of that figure, Capella, which is one of the brightest stars in the night sky.
Mars is in great view tonight. The Red Planet looks like a bright orange star just above the Moon as night falls. It will stand farther to the right of the Moon tomorrow evening.
Comet Wirtanen is streaking across Taurus, which is in the east at nightfall. It will pass between the bull’s “eye” — the star Aldebaran — and shoulder — the Pleiades star cluster. Under dark skies, the comet may be bright enough to see with the eye alone.
The Geminid meteor shower is expected to be at its best over the next couple of nights. And the Moon sets early enough that it will allow the meteors to shine through. The shower is spawned by an asteroid, which sheds dust grains as it orbits the Sun.
The constellation Gemini is in good view by about 8 p.m. It is best known for Castor and Pollux, the two bright stars that represent the heads of the twins. They are low in the east-northeast at that hour, with Castor above Pollux.
