Archive for August, 2008
Wednesday, August 27th, 2008
Whats Where Tonight September 2nd 2008
Planets:
- 7:30 PM … The Moon will set in the West Southwest at about 10°. If you have a clear horizon, you could also see Venus to the West.
· 12:00 AM … Jupiter will be rising in the South at about 25° above the
horizon. It will be unmistakenly bright.
Stars and Constellations:
- 9:30 PM … The Big Dipper will be North Northwest (NNW) at about 30°. If you follow the arc of the handle of Big Dipper, you will come to a bright star, Arcturus.
- 9:30 PM… Arcturus will be a bright star at about 20° above the horizon in the West. At about 7:30 PM, if you continue the arc of the Big Dipper and Arcturus, you come to Spica in the West Southwest just above the horizon & to the left of the setting moon.
· 9:30 PM … Vega, a very bright star, will be visible most of the night
high in the sky. Look straight up and to the West Southwest.
· 9:30 PM… Cassiopeia (makes a big “W”) will be in the Northeast
at about 40° above the horizon. The “W” will be on it’s side.
Current Events:
· 9:30 PM….. Find the Summer Triangle. Vega, Deneb and Altari. Look
Straight overhead and to the south. Deneb and Vega will be left and right of each other and Altari will be below (forming a triangle).
· 1:30 AM … The Pleiades will be rising in the East at about 40°. Below
the Pleiades, you will find Aldebaran at about 20° and just peaking over the horizon, Orion will be in the ESE at sunrise (about 4:40 AM).
Note: Stars “twinkle” since they are essentially a “point source” of light seen from tremendous distances. Planets will not “twinkle” because they are much closer and reflect our own Sun’s light.