Saturday: The Southern Delta Aquarid meteor shower peaks tonight and on into mid-August. Meteor showers are named after the constellation from which the meteors appear to originate. These meteors appear to come from a point in Aquarius near the star Delta Aquarii, also known as Skat. This point is about one and a half fists held upright and at arm’s length above the southeastern horizon at 1:00 am tonight. You can follow this point throughout the night, as it will remain a fist above Fomalhaut, the brightest star in that section of the sky. The Moon is approaching the full moon phase this week meaning it will be in the sky the whole night. For more information about this year’s shower, go to https://earthsky.org/?p=159138. As your Mother might say, dress warm and sit in a comfortable chair for maximum enjoyment. Meteors are tiny rocks that hit the Earth and burn up in the atmosphere.
Sunday: Tonight’s full moon is a blue supermoon. “Blue”, because it is the second full moon of the month, and “super” because the moon is closer to the Earth than any other full moon of the year.
Monday: At 9:00 p.m., Mars is about one fist above due west. Mercury is a more elusive target, at about a half a fist above the west-northwest horizon at this time.
Tuesday: Have you ever planned a vacation to a place because it was supposedly the up-and-coming locale? Then, when the vacation time finally arrives, you find out the place doesn’t live up to its billing? Six years ago this month, astronomers strengthened earlier findings that the star Tau Ceti, one of our closest neighbors at 12 light years away, has four planets classified as “super-Earths”. Two of the planets are in the so-called habitable zone where the temperature is just right for having liquid water on their surface. Time for a va-ca-tion! Well, not so fast. Astronomers have only a lower limit to the planet masses so they may be too massive for complex life to form. And the Tau Ceti system has ten times as much mass in dust and rocks as our own solar system. So you’ll want to do some research before you travel there. Tau Ceti is one and a half fists above the southeast horizon at 3:00 a.m. For more information about the discovery, go tp https://skyandtelescope.org/astronomy-news/four-exoplanets-may-orbit-nearby-sun-like-star/.
Wednesday: Saturn is less than a half a fist to the upper left of the moon, low in the southeastern sky at 11:00 p.m.
Thursday: Mizar is a well-known binary star in the constellation Ursa Major. You can find it at the bend in the Big Dipper handle, three fists above due northwest at midnight. Its name is Arabic for waistband. Mizar has an optical double called Alcor, which is less than a pinky width away and can easily be seen with the naked eye. Optical doubles are stars that are close together in the sky but do not orbit a common center of mass as true binary stars. Not wanting to deceive sky gazers who call Alcor and Mizar a binary star, two stars that DO orbit a common center of mass, Mizar actually is a binary. It was the first binary star system discovered using a telescope. Mizar A and Mizar B are about 400 astronomical units apart from each other and about 80 light years from Earth. 400 astronomical units is about 10 times the distance between the Sun and Pluto.
Friday: The Perseid meteor shower peaks next week. But there will be an increased number of meteors over the next two weeks. If the Moon is out when you want to look, position yourself so you are in the Moon’s shadow. The meteors appear to come from a point just below the W of the constellation Cassiopeia. This point is about two and a half fists held upright and at arm’s length above the northeast horizon at 11:00 p.m. By dawn, this point is about seven fists above the northeast horizon. If you fall asleep or forget to set your alarm, you will be able to observe this shower from about 11 p.m. to dawn for the next two weeks in about the same location in the sky. Early this week is the best time for viewing because the moon will not be bright enough or out long enough to obscure the dimmer meteors.
The Perseid shower is one of the longest lasting showers. For tips about optimizing your viewing this year, go to https://earthsky.org/?p=165416 As your Mother might say, dress warm and sit in a comfortable chair for maximum enjoyment. These meteors are sand to pea-sized bits of rock that fell off of Comet Swift-Tuttle. They are traveling about 40 miles per second as they collide with the Earth and burn up in the atmosphere.
The positional information in this column about stars and planets is typically accurate for the entire week. For up to date information about the night sky, go to https://nightsky.jpl.nasa.gov/planner.cfm.
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