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Sky Highlights and NEKAAL Events for AUGUST 2015
August 6 – Last Quarter (moon absent from evening sky)
August 8 – OPEN HOUSE at Farpoint Observatory, JOIN US beginning 8:30 pm
August 14 – New Moon
August 22 – First Quarter
August 27 – NEKAAL GENERAL MEETING, Topeka Library, 7:00 pm
August 29 – Full Moon
PLANETS in August 2015
Evening Sky:
Mercury – in west, low
Venus – in west, very bright
Jupiter – in west, very bright
Saturn – in southwest
Neptune – in east
Midnight:
Saturn – in southwest
Uranus – in east
Neptune – in southeast
Morning Sky:
Venus – in east
Mars – in east
Uranus – in south
Neptune – in southwest
CONSTELLATIONS well placed in evening during August 2015
North to South, at 9-11 pm:
Ursa Minor, the Little Bear, also the Little Dipper
Draco, the Dragon
Hercules
Lyra, the Lyre
Cygnus, the Swan
Aquila, the Eagle
Ophiuchus, the Serpent Handler
Sagittarius, the Archer
Scorpio, the Scorpion
The Perseid meteor shower is August's big news, peaking the night of August 12/13. It's best after midnight when the radiant is highest, but even around midnight there will be occasional fireballs across the sky. Get a lawn chair, point your feet northeast, have a jacket and/or blanket ready, let your eyes dark-adapt–and look up!
It's still Saturn season. August gives great evening views of the ringed planet, so get a look through binoculars or better still, a telescope (hint: if the sky is clear at our Open House August 8, someone is sure to have his telescope pointed at Saturn & you'll get a good look).
The Summer Triangle of stars is back, too. In August evenings, look very high in the eastern sky.
No comets visible in binoculars from Kansas this month.