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J.B.S. Haldane once said, “The universe is not only queerer than we imagine, it is queerer than we can imagine.”
A few recent discoveries of astronomical record setters certainly bear this out. The farthest galaxy in the universe is 13 billion light-years distant and formed about 700 million years after the big bang. There is a star in the Milky Way moving away from us at 1.6 million miles per hour! Last year a gamma ray burst that occurred 7.5 billion miles away was as bright as 10 million galaxies. Saturn’s moon Titan has oil and gas reserves hundreds of times greater than those of Earth. Comet 17P-Holmes last year released a cloud of dust and gas more than twice the diameter of the sun. The biggest black hole discovered has an estimated mass 18 billion times that of the sun while the smallest weighs a minuscule 3.8 times the sun. No matter what the science fiction writers’ imaginations come up with, the universe can easily top them.
Focus on the planets
August will see four of the five naked-eye planets, Mercury, Mars, Saturn and Venus clustered together very low in the west at sunset with the fifth, Jupiter, situated high in the south.
Mercury is emerging from the evening twilight and, by midmonth, may be spotted to the lower right of Venus.
Venus starts the month lies just above the western horizon at dusk with the bright star Regulus to its immediate upper left.
Mars is situated to the upper left of Saturn on the western horizon at dusk. Though it is the highest, it is also the dimmest of the other three planets and the star Regulus as the group goes through its cosmic dance during the course of the month.
Jupiter is high in the south-southeast at dusk and remains in view essentially all night. The star grouping that houses Jupiter is Sagittarius. Note: The latest count of Jupiter’s moons is 63 and still growing.
Saturn is situated to the upper left of Venus as August opens but drops from sight as the month progresses.
Neptune and Uranus can be located using finder charts found online at skyandtelescope.com/UranusNeptune.
August events
1 Sunrise, 5:21 a.m.; sunset, 8:02 p.m. Today is Lammas, a cross-quarter day marking the midpoint between the summer solstice and fall equinox. New moon, 6:13 a.m.
8 Moon in first quarter, 4:20 p.m.
10 The moon is at apogee or farthest distance from Earth today. The sun enters Leo on the ecliptic.
12 The Perseid meteor shower peaks today. The best time for viewing is the early morning hours after the moon has set. Look for up to 60 meteors an hour radiating out of the northeast. The Perseids are swift, bright and often leave persistent trails.
13 Venus and Saturn are separated by less than one-quarter of a degree, the closest approach of two planets this year.
15 Mercury, Venus and Saturn are bunched in a circle less than 3 degrees in diameter.
16 Full moon, 6:27 a.m. The full moon of August is known as the Corn Moon, Grain Moon or Sturgeon Moon.
22 The sun enters the astrological sign of Virgo but astronomically is still in Leo.
23 Moon in last quarter, 7:50 p.m.
26 The moon is at perigee or closest approach to Earth today.
30 New moon, 3:58 p.m.
31 Sunrise, 5:56 a.m.; sunset, 7:15 p.m.
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