Kiss the Sky Tonight -- Month of August 2023

Inside the Cocoon Nebula is a newly developing cluster of stars. Cataloged as IC 5146 (or C19), the beautiful nebula is nearly 15 light-years wide. Climbing high in northern summer night skies, it's located some 4000 light years away toward the constellation Cygnus the Swan. Like other star forming regions, it stands out in red, glowing, hydrogen gas excited by young, hot stars, and dust-reflected starlight at the edge of an otherwise invisible molecular cloud. In fact, the bright star found near the center of this nebula is likely only a few hundred thousand years old, powering the nebular glow as it clears out a cavity in the molecular cloud's star forming dust and gas. [Video and Content Credits: NASA, the Office of Public Outreach – Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI), JPL – Caltech, Preston Dyches, Christopher Harris, and Lisa Poje with subject matter guidance provided by Bill Dunford, Gary Spiers, and Lyle Tavernier] [Image Credit: Dan Ford, Astromart Gallery Contributor. Taken with a TOA 130 / ST8XE and Paramount GT-1100s. Narrowband image consists of six - 10 minute unguided exposures in Ha, O3, and S2 - https://astromart.com/gallery/photo/20047 ]

Kiss the Sky Tonight -- Month of August 2023

Welcome to the night sky report for August 2023 -- Your guide to the constellations, deep sky objects, planets, and celestial events that are observable during the month. Saturn reaches opposition this month, meaning it's at its biggest and brightest for the year, and visible all night. The "shooting stars" of the annual Perseid meteors are a must-see overnight on August 12th. And this month brings two full moons – the second of which is a "Super Blue Moon." In August, a number of star-studded figures soar overhead. Look for the constellation Lyra, shaped as a small parallelogram, which points to Epsilon Lyrae and the Ring Nebula. You can also spot three bright summer stars: Vega, Deneb, and Altair, which form the Summer Triangle. And August is a great month to learn an easy-to-spot constellation – Cygnus the swan. The night sky is truly a celestial showcase. Get outside and explore its wonders from your own backyard.

In August, we've lost Venus and Mars from the evening sky, but we'll have great views of Saturn all night. Saturn reaches opposition this month, meaning it's directly opposite the Sun as seen from Earth. Planets at opposition rise just after sunset and are visible until dawn, and it's when they appear at their biggest and brightest for the year. Look for the giant planet low in the eastern sky around 9:00 PM by mid-month, appearing a bit higher each evening as August continues.

On mornings early in the month, Saturn appears just a couple of finger widths apart from the nearly full Moon. Find them in the west before sunrise. The Moon then makes a nice pairing with the Pleiades star cluster on the morning of August 9th, with Jupiter hanging nearby. And then the Moon has a super-close meet-up with the reddish star Antares, the brightest star in the constellation Scorpius, on the evening of August 24th.

August brings one of the best known annual meteor showers, the Perseids. And this year the stage is set for a good show, as the peak night – August 12th and into the 13th – is near the new moon. The meteors are bits of dust, most no larger than sand grains, which originated from comet Swift-Tuttle. Earth sweeps through the comet's debris trail every year about this same time, resulting in the annual shower.

The radiant (the point in the sky where the meteors appear to originate) is toward the northeast, appearing in-between the upside down "W" of constellation Cassiopeia and bright star Capella. Observing the Perseids is easy. Just find yourself a safe, dark spot to lie down with your feet pointing roughly toward the northeast, and look straight up. The best time to view them is between midnight and dawn, as the radiant rises higher in the sky. Meteor activity likely will be at its greatest in the hour preceding dawn.

The crescent moon also rises in the couple of hours before dawn, but it's only about 7% illuminated, and shouldn't pose a significant problem for viewing the meteors. You might also see a few meteors in the early morning hours during the week before and after the peak.

August begins and ends with a full moon, making for a special occurrence that only happens every couple of years. A second full moon in a single calendar month is commonly called a "blue moon." They happen every 2 to 3 years because the Moon's monthly cycle is just a bit shorter than the average length of a month. So eventually a full moon will happen at the beginning of a month, with enough days left for a complete lunar cycle. When that happens, we get a blue moon.

But this month there's more -- The August 30th blue moon is also a supermoon. The moon's orbit isn't a perfect circle, so sometimes it's a little farther away from Earth and sometimes closer. At its closest point, called perigee, it's 14% closer than at its farthest. About 3 to 4 times a year, the full moon phase happens to coincide with the Moon reaching perigee, and we call that event a supermoon. While it technically appears a little bit bigger (and a little brighter) than the average full moon, the difference is not very noticeable to the eye.

The combination of these two special full moons, making for a "super blue moon," occurs about every 10 years, on average – though the time between any two occurrences can vary from two months to two decades or more.

The warm August nights offer fine opportunities for stargazing, as a number of star-studded figures soar overhead. In the southeast lies Vega, one of the brightest stars in the sky. The Greeks made Vega the anchor of the small constellation Lyra, the lyre of Orpheus. Lyra’s main pattern is a small parallelogram that marks the strings of the instrument.

Alongside Lyra sits Epsilon Lyrae, also known as a Double Double, a point of light consisting of two orbiting pairs of white stars.

Between the bottom two stars of the parallelogram is the Ring Nebula. NASA’s Hubble and James Webb Space Telescopes reveal stunning details of this planetary nebula, a glowing shell of gas expelled by a dying star. The remnant core of the star -- now a small, hot white dwarf -- sits in the center of the shell, providing radiant energy that makes the gas glow. Our own sun may end its life this way in about 6 billion years.

To the east of Lyra we find a second bright star: Deneb, a distant blue-white supergiant. Deneb marks the tail of Cygnus the swan. Cygnus is flying high in the eastern sky after dark in August. Cygnus has an overall shape like a T or cross, and contains a star pattern sometimes called "the Northern Cross." 

Cygnus is anchored by its brightest star, Deneb, which represents the swan's tail. Deneb is the northernmost of the three stars in the Summer Triangle, and it's visible even in bright city skies. On the other end of Cygnus from Deneb is double star Albireo, which is a stargazing favorite, as it shows beautiful blue and gold colors through even the most modest telescope.

Cygnus lies right along the plane of the Milky Way, so it's dense with glittering stars and dark dust clouds, with lots of interest for telescope observers and astrophotographers to enjoy, including the North America Nebula, the Veil Nebula, and the Blinking Planetary Nebula. It also includes the open star clusters M29 and M39, which are visible with binoculars.

However you're observing the sky where you live, August is a great time to discover the constellation Cygnus, the graceful swan soaring across the dusty lanes of the Milky Way.

Just south of the head of Cygnus lies a small pattern called Vulpecula, the fox. Vulpecula hosts the Dumbbell Nebula, another planetary nebula. The Spitzer Space Telescope’s infrared view shows the expanding cloud of gas heated by the central remnant star—now a white dwarf. Astronomers think that the dumbbell shape of this nebula could be caused by the presence of a second star at the center. Eventually the expelled gas of the nebula will dissipate into surrounding space, leaving only the white dwarf and its possible companion behind.

To the south of Lyra and Cygnus lies another bright star of summer: Altair. Altair marks the neck of Aquila the eagle. Just off the end of Aquila’s outstretched tail lies an open star cluster. Known as the Wild Duck Cluster, early observers thought it resembled a flock of ducks flying in a roughly V-shaped formation.

Taken together, the three bright summer stars Vega, Deneb, and Altair form the Summer Triangle. Use the Summer Triangle as a guide to the stars and nebulas that glide through the late summer night.

The night sky is always a celestial showcase. Explore its wonders from your own backyard.

The following Deep Sky Objects are found in constellations that peak during the month. Some can be viewed with a small telescope, but the majority will require a moderate to large telescope. The following is adapted from my personal viewing list: "The Guy Pirro 777 Best and Brightest Deep Sky Objects."

Constellation: Aquila

NGC 6709                    Open Cluster               P1

NGC 6724                    Open Cluster               P205

NGC 6735                    Open Cluster               P206

NGC 6738                    Open Cluster               P18

NGC 6741                    Planetary Nebula        P207 Phantom Streak Nebula

NGC 6755                    Open Cluster               Herschel 400 H19-7

NGC 6756                    Open Cluster               Herschel 400 H62-7

NGC 6760                    Globular Cluster          P19

NGC 6781                    Planetary Nebula        Herschel 400 H743-3

NGC 6790                    Planetary Nebula        P208

NGC 6803                    Planetary Nebula        P209

NGC 6840                    Open Cluster               P124

NGC 6843                    Open Cluster               P125

Constellation: Capricornus

NGC 7099                    Globular Cluster          M30                  

Constellation: Cygnus

IC 1318                        Diffuse Nebula             P24 Gamma Cygni Nebula

IC 1369                        Open Cluster               P11

IC 4996                        Open Cluster               P16

IC 5067                        Diffuse Nebula            P79 Pelican Nebula

     - IC 5070                 Diffuse Nebula               - Part of P79

IC 5117                        Planetary Nebula        P223

IC 5146                        Open Cluster               C19 Cocoon Nebular Cluster

NGC 6811                    Open Cluster               P10 Hole Cluster

NGC 6819                    Open Cluster               P12

NGC 6826                    Planetary Nebula        C15, Herschel 400 H73-4 Blinking Planetary Nebula

NGC 6834                    Open Cluster               Herschel 400 H16-8

NGC 6866                    Open Cluster               Herschel 400 H59-7

NGC 6871                    Open Cluster               P9

NGC 6874                    Open Cluster               P142

NGC 6883                    Open Cluster               P17

NGC 6888                    Diffuse Nebula           C27 Crescent Nebula

NGC 6910                    Open Cluster               Herschel 400 H56-8 Gamma Cygni Nebular Cluster

NGC 6913                    Open Cluster               M29

NGC 6914                    Diffuse Nebula            P143

NGC 6960                    Diffuse Nebula            C34 Veil Nebula (West)

NGC 6989                    Open Cluster               P144

NGC 6992                    Diffuse Nebula            C33 Veil Nebula (East)

     - NGC 6995             Diffuse Nebula                 - Part of C33

NGC 6996                    Open Cluster               P224

NGC 6997                    Open Cluster               P145

NGC 7000                    Diffuse Nebula            C20, Herschel 400 H37-5 North America Nebula

NGC 7008                    Planetary Nebula        Herschel 400 H192-1

NGC 7024                    Open Cluster               P146

NGC 7026                    Planetary Nebula        P147

NGC 7027                    Planetary Nebula        P25

NGC 7031                    Open Cluster               P148

NGC 7037                    Open Cluster               P225

NGC 7039                    Open Cluster               P13

NGC 7044                    Open Cluster               Herschel 400 H24-6

NGC 7048                    Planetary Nebula        P226

NGC 7062                    Open Cluster               Herschel 400 H51-7

NGC 7063                    Open Cluster               P14

NGC 7067                    Open Cluster               P149

NGC 7071                    Open Cluster               P227

NGC 7082                    Open Cluster               P15

NGC 7086                    Open Cluster               Herschel 400 H32-6

NGC 7092                    Open Cluster               M39

NGC 7127                    Open Cluster               P150

NGC 7128                    Open Cluster               Herschel 400 H40-7

NGC 7175                    Open Cluster               P151

Constellation: Delphinus

NGC 6891                    Planetary Nebula        P152

NGC 6905                    Planetary Nebula        Herschel 400 H16-4 Blue Flash Nebula

NGC 6934                    Globular Cluster          C47, Herschel 400 H103-1

NGC 7006                    Globular Cluster          C42, Herschel 400 H52-1

Constellation: Equuleus

NONE

Constellation: Lyra

NGC 6720                    Planetary Nebula        M57 Ring Nebula

NGC 6779                    Globular Cluster          M56

NGC 6791                    Open Cluster               P162

Constellation: Sagitta

IC 4997                        Planetary Nebula        P246

NGC 6838                    Globular Cluster          M71

NGC 6879                    Planetary Nebula        P181

NGC 6886                    Planetary Nebula        P247

Constellation: Scutum

NGC 6625                    Open Cluster               P196

NGC 6631                    Open Cluster               P251

NGC 6649                    Open Cluster               P197

NGC 6664                    Open Cluster               Herschel 400 H12-8

NGC 6694                    Open Cluster               M26

NGC 6704                    Open Cluster               P198

NGC 6705                    Open Cluster               M11 Wild Duck Cluster

NGC 6712                    Globular Cluster          Herschel 400 H47-1

Constellation: Vulpecula

NGC 6802                    Open Cluster               Herschel 400 H14-6 Coat Hanger Cluster

NGC 6823                    Open Cluster               Herschel 400 H18-7

NGC 6830                    Open Cluster               Herschel 400 H9-7

NGC 6853                    Planetary Nebula        M27 Dumbell Nebula

NGC 6882                    Open Cluster               Herschel 400 H22-8

NGC 6885                    Open Cluster               C37, Herschel 400 H20-8

NGC 6940                    Open Cluster               Herschel 400 H8-7

For more information:

Northern Latitudes:

https://hubblesite.org/resource-gallery/learning-resources/tonights-sky

https://nightsky.jpl.nasa.gov/planner.cfm

https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/skywatching/home/

https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/skywatching/whats-up/

https://www.cfa.harvard.edu/skyreport

http://outreach.as.utexas.edu/public/skywatch.html

https://griffithobservatory.org/explore/observing-the-sky/sky-report/

http://www.beckstromobservatory.com/whats-up-in-tonights-sky-2/

https://www.fairbanksmuseum.org/planetarium/eye-on-the-night-sky

http://dudleyobservatory.org/tonights-sky/

https://cse.umn.edu/mifa/starwatch

http://www.schoolsobservatory.org.uk/learn/astro/nightsky/maps

https://tonightssky.com/MainPage.php

https://earthsky.org/astronomy-essentials/visible-planets-tonight-mars-jupiter-venus-saturn-mercury

https://www.timeanddate.com/astronomy/night/

https://stardate.org/nightsky

https://www.adventuresci.org/starcharts

https://www.astromart.com/news/search?category_id=3&q=kiss+the+sky&from=&to

Equatorial Latitudes:

https://heavens-above.com/SkyChart2.aspx

https://in-the-sky.org/data/constellations_map.php

https://ytliu0.github.io/starCharts/chartGCRS.html

Southern Latitudes:

https://www.scitech.org.au/explore/the-sky-tonight/

https://www.stardome.org.nz/star-charts--sky-spotter

Watch Satellites Pass Over Your Location:

https://james.darpinian.com/satellites/

Astromart News Archives:

https://www.astromart.com/news/search?category_id=3&q=.

Check out some of my favorite Words of Wisdom:

https://astromart.com/news/show/words-of-wisdom-my-favorite-quotable-quotes

https://astromart.com/news/show/words-of-wisdom-my-favorite-proverbs-from-around-the-world

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