So we’re heading for the top of the summer season already and we right here on the Planetarium can’t consider it – our favorite a part of the yr drawing to an in depth! Whereas it may be fairly onerous to stargaze right now of yr, as a result of it being gentle to date into the evening (once we would all fairly be snuggled up in mattress, I’m certain!) it at the very least isn’t as chilly as winter and is usually a barely extra nice expertise. And If you happen to’re planning a tenting journey this month, take the chance to do some impromptu stargazing, with this text as a information!
The very first thing that we’ll see (or fairly, not see) within the August Night time Sky this yr is the brand new moon, going down on the 4th of August. That is when the facet of the moon going through us right here on Earth, is going through away from the solar, so we see the darkish facet in full view. Saying that, there isn’t a facet of the moon that’s at all times going through away from the sunshine so perhaps ‘darkish facet’ isn’t one of the best phrase to make use of (Sure I’m critiquing Pink Floyd right here). Identical to Earth, the entire moon is illuminated over the course of an Earth month, as every face turns out and in of the daylight. So, within the new moon part, the moon is at all times between the Earth and the Solar. On very uncommon and particular events a photo voltaic eclipse can happen throughout the brand new moon part. The subsequent Photo voltaic eclipse seen right here might be a partial eclipse seen in 2025. We gained’t see a complete Photo voltaic eclipse till 2090.
The brand new moon is one of the best time of the month for stargazing, although, because the sky is blissfully darkish, and so let’s check out among the stars seen this month.
There are a lot of constellations seen in the summertime sky, too many to undergo, however highlights embrace the summer season triangle (Aquila, Lyra and Cygnus), Hercules and Ophiuchus.
I’m going to concentrate on the constellations we hear much less about although, so the primary is the constellation Draco. The beauty of Draco is that it’s circumpolar from northern latitudes, so it’s technically seen all yr spherical from the UK and Eire. The identify, as you may think, comes from the Latin for ‘dragon’, and that’s what Draco represents.
Draco Constellation. Picture Credit score: Stellarium/Anna Taylor
Draco comprises a star with the identify Thuban, which suggests head of the dragon. It will also be referred to as by its designation Alpha Draconis. This star has an fascinating historical past. At one level it was the pole star, mendacity immediately above the North pole of the Earth. It occurred, in reality, to be the pole star when the Egyptian Pyramids have been being constructed, from 3942 BC to 1793 BC. The Pyramids themselves have been really constructed with one facet going through North, so that every evening the sunshine of Thuban was seen from the doorway passage to the tomb. Thuban will even be the pole star once more sooner or later, so we will sit up for seeing the impact once more – however sadly not till 21,000 AD… In some way I don’t suppose I’ll nonetheless be round then.
The brightest star in Draco is Gamma Draconis, also referred to as Eltanin, which is an orange big star.
The Cat’s Eye Nebula. Picture Credit score: Wikipedia
There are additionally a variety of galaxy clusters in Draco, together with Abell 2218. It is a big cluster of 10,000 galaxies, roughly two billion gentle years away from Earth, which acts as a robust lens. Due to the gravity of those galaxies, gentle is bent round them making a jumble of photographs, with some galaxies showing a number of instances in gentle ‘echoes’. This galaxy cluster was in reality even used as a lens to find probably the most distant object within the universe (that we all know of to date). The item is a galaxy 13 billion gentle years away, which will be seen because it was simply after the large bang.
The Ring Nebula. Picture Credit score: Wikipedia
Draco additionally comprises NGC 6543, a planetary nebula identified extra generally because the Cat’s Eye Nebula. It lies about 3000 gentle years away, and was found by William Herschel. Planetary Nebulae are the remnants of small, lifeless stars, which have puffed off their outer layers and shrunk right down to a white dwarf. A white dwarf is the dense core of the star, glowing barely white proper on the centre of the nebula. The outer layers of the star tackle a sure ethereal vibe as once they puff off, they grow to be a gorgeous colored ring across the small white remnant. One other well-known instance of a planetary nebula is the Ring Nebula, which is a favorite of novice astronomers.
One other constellation not often talked about is Lacerta. This faint constellation represents a small lizard, not shocking given Lacerta is Latin for lizard. The constellation itself seems to be somewhat bit like a ‘w’, identical to the constellation Cassiopeia, and so it’s typically known as ‘Little Cassiopeia’.
Lacerta Constellation. Picture Credit score: Stellarium/Anna Taylor
Inside this constellation there are a variety of fascinating objects, open clusters like NGC 7243, one other planetary nebula and a few double stars, which might be binary star techniques, the place two stars orbit one another, or just visible binaries, the place the 2 stars occur to line up from our perspective. One in every of these optical double stars is Alpha Lacertae, which consists of one vivid white star 103 gentle years away, with a dimmer companion star nearly 340 gentle years away. They only occur to lie in a line of sight from Earth, whereas being nowhere close to one another in house!
The Spotlight of the month this August (if not the spotlight of the yr) would be the Perseids meteor bathe which will be seen each August. This meteor bathe is related to the comet Swift-Tuttle, and seem to return from the constellation of Perseus. Be careful for this meteor bathe all through August, peaking on the 9 – 12 of August. Discover someplace darkish to be careful for as much as 100 meteors per hour.
The very last thing to view this summer season is the total moon, going down on the 19th August this yr. Not solely is it the total moon, it’s really a blue moon – the third of 4 full moons this season.
The Blue moon from Dec 2009 – the moon is just not really blue however merely an additional full moon in a season! Picture Credit score: Wikipedia
So take your probabilities with the changeable climate and do some stargazing, particularly if you’re planning on a tenting journey this yr. It’s nice enjoyable and good for the psychological well being (one thing all of us want often)!
