| Chuck's Astronomy Closet | Last Updated: Nov 29th, 2005 - 03:23:28 |
August 2005 Astronomical events.
In the NE, just 11* above the horizon is the Andromeda Galaxy. That is the only thing we see with the naked eye that is not in our galaxy. That's the next town over. All of the other stars, clusters and nebula we see are in our own little burg.
There is some nice, casual naked eye viewing in August. Many stars have Arabic names because the caravan people did not watch TV at the end of a long hard day, but gazed at the really dark sky over the desert. That is still a fun thing to do in a relatively dark place like Culebra.
On the night of August 24, after 11PM, the moon and Mars rise together in the East, and on the 25-26 after midnight the moon is close to the star cluster The Pleiades.
And on Sept. 1, just before dawn, about 5-6AM, Saturn, the thin crescent Moon and Mercury rise in the East. This might be a challenge to see, especially if it's cloudy, but if you happen to be up early and can see St. Thomas, take a look.
This next little piece of info is only for hard core sky watchers.
On the night of May 23, actually the morning of May 24, the almost full moon passes close to M4, and then occults An tares at 4:57 AM. Just before sunset. Cool to see.
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| Mars or Culebra? |
