Welcome to this issue of
Qué tal in the Current Skies


Here you will find useful observing information about the visible planets, our Moon and other moons, the Sun, as well as various 'things' celestial. Among these web pages you will find monthly star maps for either the northern or southern hemisphere that are suitable for printout. Animated images are utilized to illustrate celestial motions such as orbital motions of the planets, and other solar orbiting objects, or apparent and real motions along the ecliptic and the local horizon. Regular features include plotting the monthly positions of the visible planets using heliocentric coordinates; following - moon phases; conjunctions; Sun's apparent, and Earth's real motion along the ecliptic.


Volume 30          Issue 8
August 2024
   Month at a Glance:
Click here for the month at a glance calendar.
     August is possibly better known in Astronomy circles for the month with one of the best annual meteor showers, the Perseids Meteor Shower. The peak this year occurs around the 12th-13th of the month. The meteors are best viewed in the early hours before the Sun rises. At that time your place on the Earth is rotating toward the direction the Earth orbits the Sun placing you sort of face on to the meteors.
     Learn more about the Perseids click here to go to the Time and Date web site.


What is this? "It's a prediction of when Lees Summit, MO, will have good weather for astronomical observing." Click on the graphic to go to the Clear Sky web site.

Mercury will be visible after sunset local time over the western horizon for about the first two weeks of the month. Merury moves into inferior conjunction on the 19th and then into the morning skies by the end of the month.
Venus is becoming more visible in the evening skies at sunset.
Mars is visible in the morning skies among the stars of Taurus the Bull. The 'Red Planet' will pass within about 5o from the reddish star Aldebaran on the 5th. Watch for a very close conjunction with Jupiter on the 14th with about a 3o of separation.
Dwarf Planet Ceres is among the stars of the teapot-shaped asterism of Sagittarius the Archer. With an apparent magnitude greater than 7.0 this Dwarf Planet will be too dim to be visible with the naked eye.
Jupiter rises after midnight and is very visible throughout the night hours witihn the stars of Taurus the Bull
Saturn ries late in the evening and will be visible throughout the night hours.
Uranus rises late in the evening and is located near the open star cluster the Pleiades. Uranus will have an apparent magnitude less than 6.0 and so it should be naked-eye visible in dark enough skies.
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August Sky Calendar

01. Moon at Northernmost Declination
03. Mars-Aldebaran Conjunction
     Mercury-Venus Conjunction
04. New Moon
     Venus-Regulus Conjunction
05. Moon-Venus Conjunction
08. Moon at Descending Node
     Moon at Apogee: 251,766 miles (405,300 km)
9-10. Moon-Spica Conjunction
12. Perseid Meteor Shower: ZHR = 90
     First Quarter Moon
13. Moon-Antares Conjunction
14. Mars-Jupiter Conjunction
15. Moon at Southernmost Declination
18. Mercury at Inferior Conjunction
19. Full Moon
21. Moon at Perigee: 223,751 miles (360,200 km)
     Moon-Saturn Conjunction
22. Moon at Ascending Node
25. Moon-Pleiades Conjunction
26. Last Quarter Moon
28. Moon at Northernmost Declination
30. Moon-Pollux Conjunction
August 3August 3 - 5:00 am CDT
August 3August 3 - 8:30 pm CDT
August 5August 5 - 8:30 pm CDT
August 13August 13 - 9:30 pm CDT
August 15August 15 - 5:30 am CDT
August 21August 21 - 5:30 am CDT
August 25August 25 - 5:30 am CDT
August 30August 30 - - 5:00 am CDT
August 31August 31 - 5:30 am CDT

2044: Above the Solar System at 10 day Intervals
Planet Coordinates for August


Planet cordinate data for the visible planets and the Sun at 10-day intervals for this month.
Click here to see the web page showing this information, and also for a larger and easier to read version of the above graphic.



August 2024: Above the Terrestrial Planets at 5-day Intervals
My Local Time: CDT (UT-5)
Lee's Summit, Missouri, U.S.A.
38.9116°N, 94.3617°W

Your Current Local Date and Time:
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Some Astronomy Web Links


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Credits and Privacy

Click here to read the Privacy Statement for this web site (I don't bite!!), and about this web site and me.
    Disclaimer: Any use of my posted information, in any manner whatsoever, will raise the amount of disorder in the universe. Although no liability is implied herein, the reader is warned that this process will ultimately lead to the heat death of the universe.

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