The Ellensburg, WA sky for the week of August 7, 2021

Saturday: Venus is about a half a fist held upright and at arm’s length above due west at 9:00 am. If you can’t find Venus tonight, wait until Tuesday night when it will be to the lower left of the Moon. For a real challenge tonight, try to find Mars, one fist to the lower right of Venus, just above the west-northwestern horizon.

Sunday: “The sky is black (or light polluted), the stars are white (or red or orange or yellow or blue), the whole world gazes upon the sight (except where there are too many city lights or people are lazy.” Wow. It is difficult to write a flowing set of lyrics when there are so many parenthetical thoughts. Most people think of the sky’s blackness as a lack of stars. But dark patches in the Milky Way are actually massive clouds of dust that are blocking the stars behind them. Two of the most prominent are dark nebulae B142 and B143 in the constellation Aquila the eagle. These are easy to find and enjoy with binoculars. First find the bright white star Altair, five fists held upright and at arm’s length above the southeastern horizon at 10 p.m. Then move your binoculars up a little bit to the next bright star Tarazed, about one fifth as bright. B142 and B143 are to the upper right of Tarazed. They make an “E” shape in the sky; fitting because it was American astronomer E. E. Barnard who first proposed that these were dust clouds and not simply big spaces between the stars. For more information about dark nebulae, including many more to look at with binoculars, go to https://goo.gl/9tiqdh.  

Monday: At 11:00 p.m., the very bright planet Jupiter is two fists above the southeastern horizon. Saturn is two fists to the right of Jupiter, above the south-southeastern horizon.

Tuesday: The Perseid meteor shower peaks over the next three late nights/early mornings. The Moon is in the waxing crescent phase so it will not be above the horizon during these times, making this a good year to observe the Perseids. In case you decide to stay in bed this week, the shower is active until about August 24 so you may still enjoy an increased number of meteors later. 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 above the northeast horizon at 11 p.m. By dawn, this point is about seven fists above the northeast horizon. 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.

Wednesday: The Gemini Twins are rising right before the Sun. At 5:00 a.m., Pollux is one and a half fists above the east-northeastern horizon. Slightly dimmer Castor is a half a fist above it. Pollux is the brightest star, as observed from Earth, known to have a planet orbiting it. The planet, creatively called Pollux b, has about twice the mass of Jupiter.

Thursday: The bright star Spica is less than a fist to the lower left of the Moon. They are a little more than a fist above the west-southwestern horizon at 9:00 p.m.

Friday: If you want to show your loved ones a celestial sign that they should hang up their clothes, show them Brocchi's Cluster, commonly known as the Coat Hanger cluster because of its resemblance to an upside down coat hanger. The cluster is six fists above the southern horizon at 11:00 p.m., midway between Altair and Vega, the two brightest stars in the Summer Triangle. You'll need binoculars to make out the shape. First find Altair five fists above the southern horizon. Slowly move your binoculars up toward Vega. You will run into the coat hanger along the way. And while you are at it, put away your shoes.

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.