This Week's Sky at a Glance for August 20 – 28
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This Week's Sky at a Glance
Some daily events in the changing sky for August 20 – 28.
by Alan M. MacRobertThe path of Psyche's star-shadow across Earth on the morning of August 21st.Steve PrestonFriday, August 20
The asteroid-occultation community eagerly seeks accurate timings ofsuch events, especially by video, which is more precise than eyeballtimings. Read up on timing methods. If you get involved in this addictive pursuit, join the busy discussion at the occultation Yahoo Group.
Saturday, August 21
Sunday, August 22
Monday, August 23
Tuesday, August 24
Wednesday, August 25
Although they look close together, Jupiter is 1,500 times farther from us than the Moon is when they pass on the 26th and 27th.Sky & Telescope diagramThursday, August 26
Friday, August 27
Saturday, August 28
This Week's Planet Roundup
Mercury is hidden in the glare of the Sun.
Venus, though bright at magnitude –4.4, is getting low in the west-southwest during twilight. It sets by dark.
Mars, vastly dimmer at magnitude +1.5, is a little to Venus'supper right. Look also for similar Spica farther to Venus's upper leftfor most of the week. Saturn has moved far off to Venus's right or lower right. Bring binoculars for all three of these faint objects.
ByAugust 13th, Jupiter's Oval BA (Red Spot Junior) had nearly caught upwith the Great Red Spot and was about to pass it. Also note the ghostlytan and blue-gray signs of the broad South Equatorial Belt hidden underwhite clouds. These traces now include the outline of the Red SpotHollow just below the spot. South is up.
Christopher Go took this stacked-video image at 18:03 UT Aug. 13, 2010.
Christopher GoJupiter (magnitude –2.8, in Pisces) rises in late twilight and iswell up in the east-southeast before midnight. It's highest in thesouth around 2 or 3 a.m. daylight saving time — the brightest starlikepoint in the morning sky.Jupiter's Great Red Spot is near System II longitude 150°. Assuming it stays there, here's a list to print out of all the Great Red Spot's predicted transit times for the rest of 2010.
Uranus (magnitude 5.8, in Pisces) is about 2° west of Jupiter. Ina telescope Uranus is only 3.7 arcseconds wide, compared to Jupiter'sunusually wide 48″.
Neptune (magnitude 7.8, at the Aquarius-Capricornus border) is up high by mid- to late evening. See our finder charts for Uranus and Neptune in 2010.
Pluto (magnitude 14, in northwestern Sagittarius) is highest inthe south right after dusk, but the bright Moon interferes this week.(See our Pluto finder charts in the July Sky & Telescope, page 60.)
All descriptions that relate to your horizon or zenith — includingthe words up, down, right, and left — are written for the world'smid-northern latitudes. Descriptions that also depend on longitude(mainly Moon positions) are for North America. Eastern Daylight Time(EDT) equals Universal Time (also known as UT, UTC, or GMT) minus 4hours.