Saturn rules this month! And that’s very unusual, because Saturn is the faintest and least noticeable of the bright planets. So why is Saturn top dog in August, 2015? Only because Mercury, Venus, Mars and Jupiter – the other planets visible to the eye alone – all are hiding in the glare of evening or morning twilight throughout this month. Maybe they’re just not wanting to be upstaged by this August’s awesome Perseid meteor shower. Follow the links below to learn more about August planets.
Mercury, Venus, Mars and Jupiter are all close to morning or evening twilight glare in August, 2015. Meanwhile, Saturn is up from nightfall until late night.
Saturn rules this month! And that’s very unusual, because Saturn is the faintest and least noticeable of the bright planets. So why is Saturn top dog in August, 2015? Only because Mercury, Venus, Mars and Jupiter – the other planets visible to the eye alone – all are hiding in the glare of evening or morning twilight throughout this month. Maybe they’re just not wanting to be upstaged by this August’s awesome Perseid meteor shower. Follow the links below to learn more about August planets.
Evening planets in August 2015
Brilliant Venus disappears in sunset glare by mid-August
Bright Jupiter lost in sunset glare in early August
Mercury up in evening twilight, best from Southern Hemisphere
Saturn easily visible from nightfall until late night
Morning planets in August 2015
Venus (brightest), the star Regulus and Jupiter (below Regulus) low in the twilight on August 3, 2015.
From the S. Hemisphere, the planet Mercury can be seen below the trio of objects in the photo above. Here, Venus is in the top right, Jupiter in the top left, and Mercury below Jupiter. Photo taken August 4, 2015 by Helio Carvalho Vital in Saquarema, Brazil. Canon PowerShot SX60 HS camera. Photos were treated for noise reduction and enhancing contrast.
Evening planets in August 2015
Brilliant Venus disappears in sunset glare by mid-August
Bright Jupiter lost in sunset glare in early August
Mercury up in evening twilight, best from Southern Hemisphere
Saturn easily visible from nightfall until late night
Morning planets in August 2015
Venus (brightest), the star Regulus and Jupiter (below Regulus) low in the twilight on August 3, 2015.
From the S. Hemisphere, the planet Mercury can be seen below the trio of objects in the photo above. Here, Venus is in the top right, Jupiter in the top left, and Mercury below Jupiter. Photo taken August 4, 2015 by Helio Carvalho Vital in Saquarema, Brazil. Canon PowerShot SX60 HS camera. Photos were treated for noise reduction and enhancing contrast.
Brilliant Venus disappears in sunset glare by mid-August. Venus is the brightest planet and third-brightest sky object overall, after the sun and moon. When it’s visible, it’s very, very prominent in our sky. But it’s not easily visible this month. In August 2015, Venus moves out of the evening sky and into the morning sky. This happens officially on August 15, 2015, when Venus will pass nearly 8 degrees south of the sun as seen from our earthly perspective. If you are blessed with an unobstructed horizon in the direction of sunrise, you’ll probably see Venus low in the east, about an hour before sunrise, sometime during the last week of August, 2015.
The real challenge is to see Venus in the west at evening dusk in early August. At mid-northern latitudes, Venus sets roughly 45 minutes after the sun, and at temperate latitudes in the Southern Hemisphere, Venus sets over an hour after sunset in early August.
In other words, the Southern Hemisphere has the advantage over the Northern Hemisphere for catching Venus in the evening sky in the first part of the month.
Southerly latitudes might even see Venus with Jupiter and Mercury toward the end of the first week of August, though only for a brief while after sunset. Click here to find out more. Thereafter, Venus and Jupiter rapidly sink into the sun’s glare and disappears from the evening sky, while Mercury remains an evening object for the rest of the month. But Mercury, too, is better from Earth’s Southern Hemisphere.
Evening dusk on August 7, 2015: Venus is off by herself to the left. The triangle of lights to the right: Regulus (brightest star in the constellation Leo) at top, Jupiter at bottom and Mercury in between. View planet animation August 3-8. Photo and animation, courtesy of Peter Lowenstein of Zimbabwe.
Bright Jupiter lost in sunset glare in early August. Jupiter shines more brilliantly than any star. It’s the second-brightest planet after Venus. Both Venus and Jupiter will transition over into the morning sky in August, 2015.
In late June and early July, Venus and Jupiter staged their closest conjunction until August 27, 2016, and displayed a second – though less close – conjunction in the evening sky on July 31 – the same date as this year’s Blue Moon.
Now these two brilliant worlds are heading for their third and final conjunction of the year in the morning sky on October 26, 2015.
By a wonderful coincidence, as Venus and Jupiter showcase their final conjunction of the year – on October 26 – Venus will reach its greatest eastern (morning) elongation from the sun.
Moreover, the year’s closest grouping of three planets – Venus, Mars and Jupiter – will also take place on October 26. That’s a big deal because the next planetary trio won’t occur again until January, 2021!
If you live in the Southern Hemisphere or the northern tropics, you might catch the conjunction of Jupiter and Mercury in the evening sky after sunset on August 6 or 7. Have binoculars on hand for the conjunction will take place near the horizon and in the murk of evening dusk. It’ll be their closest conjunction since May 22, 2012; and closer one won’t happen again until November 27, 2018.
Normally, if you have binoculars or a telescope, it’s fairly easy to see Jupiter’s four major moons, which look like pinpricks of light on or near the same plane. They are often called the Galilean moons to honor Galileo, who discovered these great Jovian moons in 1610. In their order from Jupiter, these moons are Io, Europa, Ganymede and Callisto. In August of 2015, however, Jupiter’s moons will have a hard time competing with the sun’s glare.
These moons circle Jupiter around the Jovian equator. In cycles of six years, we view Jupiter’s equator edge-on. So, in 2015, we get to view a number of mutual events involving Jupiter’s moons through a high-powered telescope. Click here or here or here for more details.
In late June and early July, Venus and Jupiter staged their closest conjunction until August 27, 2016, and displayed a second – though less close – conjunction in the evening sky on July 31 – the same date as this year’s Blue Moon.
Now these two brilliant worlds are heading for their third and final conjunction of the year in the morning sky on October 26, 2015.
By a wonderful coincidence, as Venus and Jupiter showcase their final conjunction of the year – on October 26 – Venus will reach its greatest eastern (morning) elongation from the sun.
Moreover, the year’s closest grouping of three planets – Venus, Mars and Jupiter – will also take place on October 26. That’s a big deal because the next planetary trio won’t occur again until January, 2021!
If you live in the Southern Hemisphere or the northern tropics, you might catch the conjunction of Jupiter and Mercury in the evening sky after sunset on August 6 or 7. Have binoculars on hand for the conjunction will take place near the horizon and in the murk of evening dusk. It’ll be their closest conjunction since May 22, 2012; and closer one won’t happen again until November 27, 2018.
Normally, if you have binoculars or a telescope, it’s fairly easy to see Jupiter’s four major moons, which look like pinpricks of light on or near the same plane. They are often called the Galilean moons to honor Galileo, who discovered these great Jovian moons in 1610. In their order from Jupiter, these moons are Io, Europa, Ganymede and Callisto. In August of 2015, however, Jupiter’s moons will have a hard time competing with the sun’s glare.
These moons circle Jupiter around the Jovian equator. In cycles of six years, we view Jupiter’s equator edge-on. So, in 2015, we get to view a number of mutual events involving Jupiter’s moons through a high-powered telescope. Click here or here or here for more details.
earthsky.org
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