Saturday: Star light. Star bright. The first star you see tonight might be Vega, nearly seven fists held upright and at arm’s length above the eastern horizon right after sunset.
Sunday: Mars is half a fist above the western horizon at
9:30 p.m. In case that is not interesting enough for you, look to the south.
The bright star Antares, which means rival of Mars, is right above the moon.
Monday: It is often said that Earth is a water world because
about 70% of the Earth’s surface is covered by water. What would it look like
if all that water on the surface were gathered up into a ball? That “ball”
would be about 700 km in diameter, less than half the diameter of the Moon. The
Astronomy Picture of the day shows us right here https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap120515.html.
Tuesday: Venus, the brightest point of light in the sky, is
two fists above the eastern horizon at 5:00 a.m. Jupiter is about a half a fist
to the lower left of Venus.
Wednesday: The Gemini twins, first Castor and then Pollux,
rise just before the Sun. At 5:00 a.m., Pollux is one and a half fists above
the northeastern horizon. A slightly dimmer Castor is 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: 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 about six fists above due south at 11:20 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.
Friday: Tonight’s August full moon is traditionally called
the full sturgeon moon by Midwest and northeastern Native American tribes
because the sturgeon in lakes in this part of the country were easiest to catch
during this full moon time. The Ojibwe in the Midwest harvest wild rice in
August, calling the August full moon the Ricing Moon.
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.
All times are Pacific Time unless noted.
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