Current Night Sky: August 2019

The Moon & Planets: 
Moon and Jupiter

On August 9, the Moon makes a close approach to Jupiter. Shown are the positions of the planet and its Galilean moons (left-to-right): Europa, (Jupiter), Io, Callisto, and Ganymede (August 9, 2019; 8:00 pm EDT).

The Moon makes a very close approach to Saturn on August 12. Shown here are the orbits of Saturn's moons Titan (smaller ellipse) and Iapetus. The orbit of the later spans a significant portion of the lunar diameter (August 12, 2019; 7:00 am EDT).

The Perseids are normally the most-viewed shower of the year, with rates reaching 100 meteors per hour or more during their peak; in 2019 that falls on August 13. This year, however, the nearly full Moon shares the night with the shower and bathes the sky with enough light to wash out the fainter meteors. One strategy is to look a day or two earlier, when the Moon sets sooner while the Perseid radiant (the apparent source of the meteor trails) is still high up before dawn (August 13, 2019; 10:30 pm EDT).

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

There are no comets brighter than magnitude 8 currently visible.

Meteors: 

The Perseids peak on the morning of August 13.

Phases of the Moon: 
First Quarter Moon August 7 1:31 pm EDT
Full Moon August 15 8:29 am EDT
Last Quarter Moon August 23 10:56 am EDT
New Moon August 30 6:37 am 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