The Sky This Week for August 26 to August 28
Planets, Pallas, and the Big Dipper will all make wonderful viewing this week
By Richard Talcott
Friday, August 26
• Distant Neptune reaches opposition and peak visibility one week from today, but the view now is essentially the same. The ice giant planet rises during evening twilight and climbs nearly halfway to the zenith in the southern sky by 1:30 a.m. local daylight time. The magnitude 7.8 planet lies in Aquarius, 1.1° southwest of 4th-magnitude Lambda (l) Aquarii. You’ll need binoculars to spy Neptune and a telescope to see its blue-gray disk, which spans 2.4″.
Saturday, August 27
• Venus and Jupiter lie closer to each other today than at any time since May 2000. At their tightest, just 4.2′ separate them. Unfortunately, this happens in late afternoon from North America. By twilight, the two worlds have pulled slightly apart — 5.5′ from the East Coast and 12.1′ from the West Coast. Still, that’s close enough that many people will see the two merge into one. Binoculars will provide spectacular views, clearly splitting the pair and revealing Mercury 5° to their lower left and just above the horizon. Most telescope-eyepiece combinations will show Venus and Jupiter in the same field, with Jupiter spanning 31″ and Venus 11″.
Sunday, August 28
• Evenings this week are great times to explore the constellation Sagittarius the Archer. This star group lies due south and at peak altitude around 9 p.m. local daylight time, just as the last vestiges of twilight fade away. The brightest stars within the constellation form the shape of a teapot — a distinctive asterism once you’ve found it. The central regions of the Milky Way pass through Sagittarius, so it’s always worth exploring the area through binoculars or a telescope.
Source
Witches Of The Craft® 