In Manx skies... August 2010 ~ compiled by Dave Storey
New
10th
at
03.08h
First Quarter
16th
at 18.14h
Full
24th
at 17.05h
Last Quarter
3rd
at 04.59h
Note: All times are Universal Time (UT)
There are no solar or lunar eclipses visible this month.
Solar activity remains low in visible light but sunspot activity has shown signs of increasing during the later parts of 2009 and early 2010.
WARNING: NEVER DIRECTLY OBSERVE THE SUN WITH YOUR NAKED EYES AND/OR OPTICAL INSTRUMENTATION: YOU WILL BE BLINDED!
Carrington's Solar Rotation number 2100 starts on the 9th at 14.52:48h.
Is poorly placed for viewing from the Isle of Man. It reaches greatest eastern elongation on 7th when it will be found 27° to the left of the sun. The planet will be best seen from the tropics and Southern Hemisphere.
Is in the evening sky shining at a brilliant -4.2 to -4.4 magnitude. At the beginning of the month, the planet will be close to the planets Saturn and Mars; although the sky will still be in twilight and the view is best seen in binoculars. The planet sets at 21.38 at the start of the month and at 20.03 at months end. The planet reaches greatest eastern elongation on the 20th when it will be 46° to the left of the sun. On the same day, the planet passes 1.8° south of Mars.
Through
a telescope the planet will display a disc ranging from
19.9" to 27.9" and a phase that decreases from
58.1% to 42.5%
Is in Virgo shining at magnitude +1.5. The planet distance continues to increase from 1.99 to 2.1 Astronomical Units (A.U.) and consequently the disc will remain small at less than 5".
The planet will be poorly seen from the Isle of Man due to its low altitude in the bright twilight skies after sunset.
Is
in Pisces shining at -2.7 at the beginning of the month and
brightening slightly to -2.9 by months end. It rises at
21.47h on the 1st and 19.47h on the 31st.
The planet is moving in a retrograde (east to west) motion. The planet is large as seen though a telescope with a disc diameter of 45.8" to 49.1" Distance to the planets decreases from 4.3 AU to 4.0 AU.
As the moons orbit Jupiter, there are occasions when the shadow of the moons can be seen upon the surface of Jupiter and the moons can transit across Jupiter's disc. Also, the moons can be seen to be occulted or eclipsed by Jupiter. There are many events throughout the month. See periodicals such as the BAA Handbook, Astronomy Now and Sky at Night magazines for listings.
To help you identify the moons at any particular time, Sky and Telescope have a Java tool that will plot the moon positions. Click Here.
On the night spanning 20th and 21st, an interesting dance of Jupiter's Moons occurs. At 03.18h, Callisto will be eclipsed by Jupiter and by 04.10h, Europa will be seen to start a transit of the Jovian disc.
Is
in the constellation Virgo, shining at +1.1. It sets at
22.03h on the 1st and at 20.05h on the 31st. The planet is
becoming lost in the evening twilight as seen from Manx
shores.
The rings of Saturn are at a shallow angle, opening up from from+3.3° to +4.8°.
The north side of the rings are on view.
The moon Titan is west of the planet 8th ,9th 10h , 11th ,24th ,25th , 26th . It will be east on 1st,2nd ,3rd ,16th ,17th ,18th and 19th.
Is in Pisces about 2-3° to the right of Jupiter during the month. It shines at magnitude +5.8
Wide
field view showing locations of Uranus and Neptune.
Use
the above chart to locate Uranus through a telescope or large
binoculars. Dates shown are the 1st of month with tick marks for
each day.
Is in Aquarius until the 13th when it moves into Capricornus. It reaches opposition on the 20th when it will be at magnitude +7.8. The disc of the planet will be very small at only 2.4"
Use
the above chart to locate Neptune through a telescope. Dates shown
are the 1st of month with tick marks for each day.
Perseids are active from July 23rd to August 20th. Maximum occurs on the night of 12th at 21hrs. The Zenithal Hourly Rate (ZHR) is around 80 when there will be a good chance of seeing some bright events. The moon will be a thin crescent, setting at 20.20hrs on the night of maximum, so good dark skies makes this years shower a very good one. The radiant is in the constellation Perseus at R.A. 03h04m Dec. +58°
Date Time ZC# SAO# Magnitude. P.A. Type of event. Notes
6 01.18:26 767 76974 5.5 298 RD 103
Tau.
31 01.44:48 435 75662 5.8 324 RD 47
Ari.
Times
are UT as seen from IoMAS Observatory. Start to observe these
events about 20 minutes before the above times to allow for
differences in your latitude and longitude. This will give you
time to locate the star that is about to be occulted.
ZC = Zodiacal Catalogue. Type of Event DD = disappearance at dark limb, RD = Reappearance at dark limb. RB = Reappearance on bright limb. PA = Position Angle around limb of the Moon, where 0 degrees is north, 90 degrees is east, 180 degrees is south and 270 degrees is west.
This
star drops from magnitude +2.1 to +3.4 in about 5 hours. Suitable
events visible from the Isle of Man occur on 2nd
at
00.30h and 22nd
at
02.18h.
Click
Here for star chart.
There are no bright comets visible this month.
The international Space Station crosses the Manx skies on a regular basis. For the latest information on when the ISS is due to pass across the sky over the next ten days, visit the link below.
Noctilucent
Clouds are luminous clouds that appear normally at the northern
horizon at either side of local midnight. They have been observed
for at least 125 years but of late, they have become more common,
brighter and seen from latitudes much further south than normal.
They have been seen from the end of July this year.
For the latest updates on observations for 2010, click on this link: NLC Sightings
On
the night over 31st and 1st September, the waning Moon will
be seen to pass 2° south of the star cluster M44, The
Pleiades. This should prove a wonderful sight in binoculars.
Bibliography for Manx Night Skies
The Handbook of the British
Astronomical Association 2010. BAA. 2009
2010 Yearbook of
Astronomy. Patrick Moore. Macmillan. 2009
Philip's Stargazing
2010. Heather Couper & Nigel Henbest. Philip's.
2009
Observer's Handbook Meteors. Neil Bone. Philip's
1993
Atlas of the Night Sky. Storm Dunlop. Collins.
2005
Constellations. Josef Klepešta and Antonin Rükl.
Hamlyn. 1979
Brilliant Stars. Patrick Moore. The Book People
Ltd. 1996
Complete Guide to Stargazing. Robin Scagell.
Phillip's. 2006
Turn Left at Orion. Guy Consolmango and Dan M.
Davis. Cambridge U.P. 2008
Norton's 2000.0 Edited Ian Ridpath.
Longman Scientific & Technical. 1989
Planetary data derived from
Guide 8
Software.
Picture graphics derived from Stellarium
and Guide 8 Software.