Current Night Sky: August 2020

The Moon & Planets: 
August sky chart

During the night of August 5-6, the waning gibbous Moon joins five planets. (Under typical light-polluted skies, only Mars, Saturn, and Jupiter are visible to the naked eye.) Generally, the planets follow the Ecliptic (shown here as a yellow line), which represents the average plane of the Solar System. The Moon's orbit around Earth is tilted 5° to the plane, so it can depart noticeably from the Ecliptic (August 6, 2020, 1:00 am EDT).

Jupiter

The four large moons of Jupiter can be difficult to see as they cross in front of the planet; their pale disks easily blend into the rich multicolored details of Jupiter's cloud deck. The dark shadows the moons cast, though, are easier to see in modest telescopes. Occasionally, there is a double shadow transit; from 12:08 am until 1:54 am EDT on the 15th, for example, the disks of Ganymede and Io cast their black shadows simultaneously onto Jupiter's cloudtops. As it happens, the Great Red Spot is also visible during this time (August 15, 2020, 12:30 am EDT).

Summer Triangle

The Summer Triangle is almost overhead on August evenings; rather than being a constellation, it is an informally recognized pattern known as an asterism, composed of stars from parts of a constellation or with stars from several constellations (in this case, Lyra from Vega, Altair from Aquila, and Deneb from Cygnus). The Milky Way, with its nebulae, clusters, and rich star fields also arches high overhead (August 15, 10:00 pm EDT).

Evening Planets (after sunset): 
  • Jupiter, SE
  • Saturn, SE
  • Neptune, E
Morning Planets (before sunrise): 
  • Neptune, SW
  • Mars, S
  • Uranus, S
  • Venus, E
  • Mercury, NE
Comets: 

Comet C/2020 F3 (NEOWISE) has made a brief appearance – even reaching naked-eye visibility – over the past few weeks. It is now well-placed for viewers in the Northern Hemisphere, but is fading rapidly.

Meteors: 

The Perseid meteors peak on the night of Aug. 11-12. Normally a spectacular shower, the light from the Last Quarter Moon will wash out some of the fainter meteors.

Phases of the Moon: 
Full Moon August 3 11:59 am EDT
Last Quarter Moon August 11 12:45 pm EDT
New Moon August 18 10:42 pm EDT
First Quarter Moon August 25 1:58 pm EDT

Text, graphics, and animations by John Sheff. Graphics courtesy of Starry Night(©) Pro Plus 7 / Imaginova(©) Corp. Starry Night images are used with permission from Imaginova Corp. Starry Night is a registered trademark of Imaginova Corp. Star charts generated by Starry Night Pro Plus 7 © Imaginova Corp. All rights reserved. www.StarryNight.com