Events, Moon, Planets in August Home Page Evènements du mois Monthly Sky Charts

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.Events .Moon .Planets .Minor Planets, NEOs .Comets .Shooting Stars .Occultations .Sun .check more! (occultations observers are advised to check in 'Events', and to turn to such dedicated sites like the I.O.T.A). don't forget to check the weather! For the US: the NOAA . color codes: Wwd worldwide, UsA USA-Americas, EuA Europe-Africa, AsP Asia-Pacific, Chk Check for Your Zone. check the site's concept and the instructions of use

Editor's Choice Fine Picture Archives Editor's Choice Sky At Tech News color codes: Wwd worldwide, UsA USA-Americas, EuA Europe-Africa, AsP Asia-Pacific, Chk Check for Your Zone. check the site's concept and the instructions of use

Events Home Page

.Events Seen All Month Long .Ephemerides Proper

(data from the former yearly ephemerides generator at Fred Espenak's NASA's eclipse website; miscellaneous data with the 'Astronomical Phenomena for The Year 2017,' a joint work by the United Kingdom Hydrographic Office and the U.S. Naval Observatory; to be found at the latter's site; all time UT except otherwise stated)

Wwd The northern hemisphere Great Winter Sky is ornating dawn worldwide this month. Fine visual and photographic opportunities. Moon may come to add further!

The bright stars of the northern hemisphere Great Winter Sky are ornating dawn in August worldwide! picture site 'Amateur Astronomy' based upon Stellarium

Wwd Fine stars of the southern hemisphere skies are ornating the whole South of the Tropics by twilight. Fine viewing and photographic opportunities as Moon may come to add!

Fine stars of the southern hemisphere skies are ornating the whole South of the Tropics by twilight picture site 'Amateur Astronomy' based upon Stellarium

1 Wwd The Perseids, one of the most important meteor showers of the year, are usually active Jul. 17-Aug. 24 with their peak usually on Aug. 11-12. Perseids are one of the year's most important meteor shower more at the date of the peak

2 Wwd Moon is at its perigee at 07:08 UT (distances non available)

Wwd 9 First quartered Moon by all latitudes, is close to Antares, the bright star to Scorpius, the Scorpion, and Jupiter! Fine!

Moon close to Antares, the bright star to constellation Scorpius, the Scorpion, and Jupiter! picture site 'Amateur Astronomy' based upon the Stellarium software

UsA 11 (1) Waxing gibbous Moon at all latitudes, is close to Saturn tonight!

11 (2) Wwd Perseids shooting stars usually are peaking on Aug. 11-12 more back

EuA AsP 12 (1) Waxing gibbous Moon, by all latitudes is close to Saturn tonight!

Moon close to Saturn tonight! picture site 'Amateur Astronomy' based upon the Stellarium software

12 (2) Wwd Moon is at a descending node at 14:45 UT as it also reaches a southernmost declination at 04:28 UT

12 (3) Wwd There is a occultation of Saturn today by Moon! check more at Occultations below; check more too at such sites like "The International Occultation Timing Association" (I.O.T.A.)

12 (4) Wwd There is a occultation of Pluto today by Moon! check more at Occultations below; check more too at such sites like "The International Occultation Timing Association" (I.O.T.A.)

17 Wwd Moon is at its apogee at 10:50 UT (distances non available)

25 Wwd Alpha Aurigids are usually active Aug. 25-Sept. 5-8 with their peak usually on Sep. 1. more

26 Wwd Moon reaches a northernmost declination at 17:53 UT

27 Wwd Moon is at a ascending node at 01:50 UT

30 Wwd Moon is at its perigee at 15:57 UT (distances non available)

Occultations observers are advised to turn to such dedicated sites like the I.O.T.A as they may also check below at our Occultation section

Moon Home Page

New Moon is on August 1st, at 03:12 UT
First Quarter is on August 7th, at 17:31 UT
Full Moon is on August 15th, at 12:29 UT
Last Quarter is on August 23rd, at 14:56 UT
New Moon is on August 30th, at 10:37 UT

(source: NASA Reference Publication 1349, Twelve Year Planetary Ephemeris: 1995 - 2006 by Fred Espenak)

Planets Home Page

for what a remarkable configuration of a planet is, check our tutorial 'Planets Apparent Motion'

Mercury is reaching a greatest western elongation on Aug. 9th, by 22:59 UT. Mercury will display a show like a morning star in the northern hemisphere. The show will be very mean at the Tropics or the southern hemisphere

Mercury, a fine morning star in the northern hemisphere! picture site 'Amateur Astronomy' based upon the Stellarium software

Venus is reaching a superior conjunction on August 14th, 2019 by 05:44. Hence Venus is seen nowhere worldwide

Mars is bound to a conjunction next Sep. 2 and the Red Planet is seen nowhere worldwide

Jupiter is now before southwest in the northern hemisphere, southwest high at the Tropics and West, high, in the southern hemisphere

Saturn Still At its Best! keeps at its best after a opposition last month. Saturn is now about South in the northern hemisphere, the same at the Tropics and high. It is northwest, high, in the southern hemisphere. Following a ring aperture maximum, rings now are closing

Saturn keeping at its best after a opposition last month! picture site 'Amateur Astronomy' based upon the Celestia software

Uranus is now rising by 11:30 p.m. local time in the northern hemisphere, 11:15 at the Tropics and 11:55 in the southern hemisphere

Neptune will reach a opposition next month. Neptune has now risen by 10:30 p.m. local time in the northern hemisphere, it's high East by that same time at the Tropics, and high about East in the southern hemisphere

Pluto Faraway World Still At its Best! had reached its opposition last month. It's before South in the northern hemisphere, South and high at the Tropics as the faraway world is about the zenith in the southern hemisphere (according to the International Astronomical Union (IAU) since 2006, Pluto is not considered a planet anymore, but categorized like a dwarf planet instead along with Ceres, Eris, Makemake, and Haumea, and the prototype of a new category of 'trans-Neptunian', 'Pluto-class' objects)

Pluto, a farway world keeping at its best! picture site 'Amateur Astronomy' based upon the Celestia software

Minor Planets, NEOs Home Page

.Minor Planets .Nearest NEOs

Minor Planets

Minor planets are those biggest asteroids in the Asteroid Belt which may be easily observed by amateurs from the Earth, namely Ceres, Pallas, Juno, and Vesta (due to the new categorization by the International Astronomical Union (IAU) by 2006, Ceres belongs to the 5 dwarf planets in the solar system with Pluto, Eris, Makemake, and Haumea). check data and charts at our section Minor Planets on the yearly Calendar page as our tutorial 'Asteroids and Asteroid Hunting' is of help too. Any remarkable event linked to a minor planet may have a notice here below

Nearest NEOs

Some small asteroids dubbed Near-Earth Objects (NEOs) are regularly making close approaches at Earth. People interested in such close approaches may obtain recent and upcoming data at NASA site Near-Earth Object Program (their section "Close Approaches"). Date, miss distance in AU or Lunar Distance (LD), estimated diameter, and relative velocity are available. For further observational purposes, check at the Near-Earth Object Program ephemeris Generator. For more about NEOs see tutorial "About NEOs"

Comets Home Page

Once every time, the solar system treats us with a remarkable comet, a eery view spanning up to thirty degrees of sky! Most of the time however comets are the domain of dedicated observers as mostly weak and, at the most, hovering at the limit of the naked-eye visibility. A good site to get information about current such comets is the British Astronomical Association Comet Section page or also the Weekly Information about Bright Comets page (which often points to comets close to the visual magnitude). Our 'Comets and Comet Hunting' tutorial will also be helpful. Remarkable comets otherwise usually will be presented below!

Shooting Stars Home Page

->note: shooting stars afficionados will be aware of checking Moon at the dates of the showers

• Southern Delta Aquarids are usually active Jul. 12-Aug. 19 with their peak usually on Jul. 27-28. Their radiant is at R.A. 339° and dec. -16°. They have a hourly rate of 20
• Perseids back are usually active Jul. 17-Aug. 24 with their peak usually on Aug. 11-12. Their radiant is at R.A. 046° and dec. +58°. They are one of the most important meteor showers of the year, with a hourly rate of 100-110
• Alpha Aurigids back are usually active Aug. 25-Sept. 5-8 with their peak usually on Sep. 1. Their radiant is at R.A. 084° and dec. +42°. Their hourly rate is of 7-10
• Shooting stars afficionados may turn to such dedicated sites like IMO, The International Meteor Organization for more about the above and about possible minor showers this month

for more about the meteor showers of this month, for possible other meteor showers for this month, and for more about shooting stars, generally, see our tutorial "Shooting Stars"

Occultations Home Page

Each month, Moon occults some relatively bright stars, that is the Moon, beginning either with its bright or its dark visible face, is passing in front of a star. This is called an occultation. The Pleiades, on the other hand, due to their position near the eclipic, are often occulted by Moon too. Some planets, at last, along the year, may be occulted by Moon or they themselves, or their satellites, may be seen too occulting a star. The asteroids too may occult stars. Yearly lists of such phenomenons are to be found at Sky & Telescope/SkyTonight.com, either in their newsstand issues or at their site, as a list of occultations of most brilliant stars, the planets and the Pleiades are available at the I.O.T.A site (I.O.T.A. stands for "The International Occultation Timing Association"). Most notable occultations are signaled below

The configuration of Moon makes 2019 a great year of occultations of planets and minor planets by the Moon as, amazingly none of the bright stars usually occulted by Moon, like Aldebaran, Antares, Regulus or Spica, will be!

Saturn back is occulted by Moon on Aug. 12th, 2018 by 10:00 UT! The show is available for E. Indonesia, most of Australia, N. New Zealand, Melanesia, Polynesia (except Hawaii). check more at such sites like "The International Occultation Timing Association" (I.O.T.A.)

Pluto back is occulted by Moon on Aug. 12th, 2018 by 22:00 UT! The show is available for N.E. South America, Ascension Island, central and E. Africa, S. Arabian Peninsula. check more at such sites like "The International Occultation Timing Association" (I.O.T.A.)

check on this site for more about occultations, theoretically

Sun Home Page

click to last Sun