Monsoon clouds might keep hobby astronomers inside on August nights, but that doesn't have to stop us from exploring the sky. There are a variety of ways to enjoy astronomy from the comfort of your easy chair.
Planetarium programs simulate the night sky on your computer screen. There are dozens of them available. You can spend hundreds of dollars for the most sophisticated programs, but there are some freeware applications that may serve you quite well. My favorite freeware astronomy program has to be Stellarium by Stellarium Developers (Fabien Chéreau). It is actually quite remarkable that such a capable program is offered for free. It can be set for any place on Earth, and essentially any time, past present or future and accurately depicts the sky. You can speed time up to experience a whole night in minutes, toggle constellation lines, labels, and artwork and pull up data on thousands of astronomical objects. Just type Stellarium in your browser search engine to reach the free download.
Another fun freeware program is Celestia ( http://ift.tt/VkBftl). This one doesn't confine you to the surface of the Earth. You can travel, virtually, throughout the solar system, to any of over 100,000 stars, or even beyond the galaxy.
There are a number of excellent commercial planetarium programs available. They can direct a linked telescope, display simulated eyepiece and detector views, and can stay current on transient objects like comets and novae. They offer more extensive databases and image libraries than the freeware programs and they allow for many different types of simulations. The capabilities and database coverage varies among the available programs. Probably the most popular programs are The Sky by Software Bisque and Starry Night by Simulation Curriculum. Other favorites include Sky Tools (Capella Soft), Guide 9 (Project Pluto), and Megastar (Willmann Bell). They each have their own advantages and unique capabilities.
Your tablet, smart phone or other hand held device can be turned into a powerful sky atlas by any number of inexpensive or even free astronomy apps. Many of them use their internal accelerometers along with links to accurately depict the heavens in real time as you sweep across the sky. Sky Safari, Starmap, Pocket Universe, Star Walk, Star Chart, and Sky View are just a few of the many apps out there.
There are a number of magazines devoted to astronomy that are published monthly and available on newsstands. Astronomy (Kalmbach Publishing) and Sky & Telescope (F+W Media) are the genre leaders. They both now offer digital versions and have on-line features for their print subscribers. You can find Astronomy magazine at the Sierra Vista library.
In the real sky, the main event this month is a close conjunction of the two brightest planets, Venus and Jupiter, in the dawn sky. Venus will be visible at the start of the month with Jupiter arriving on the stage by the end of the first week. Look for Jupiter to the lower left of Venus in the eastern sky. They will continue to draw closer each morning until Aug. 18 when the two will be just .2 degrees apart - their closest conjunction since 2000.
There are bright planets drawing together in the west as well. You can watch as Mars draws closer to Saturn each evening just after sunset. Saturn, Mars and the bright star Spica form a line in the western sky at the start of August. Mars is the brightest of the three. Both planets move eastward each night, but Mars is catching up to Saturn and by Aug. 23 the two planets will be just 3.5 degrees apart and equally bright. Compare the colors of rusty Mars and yellowish Saturn to tell the two planets apart.
The Perseid meteor shower peaks overnight on Aug. 12-13. The Perseids are sometimes the best meteor display of the year, but the high probability of August clouds never favors viewing them from Arizona. This year's shower has the added disadvantage of a bright moon just two days past full. We shouldn't expect to see many Perseids from here.
The Huachuca Astronomy Club and the University South Foundation will offer a free astronomy class at the Patterson Observatory this fall. The seven-week course for adults will be offered on Tuesday evenings 7 to 9 p.m., at the observatory starting on Oct. 7. A 40-minute lecture will be followed by some hands on telescope time with the observatory's 20-inch research grade telescope. Students can register for the whole seven week course or sign up for just the sessions that interest them. Call the foundation office at 458-8278 ext. 2129 for information or to register. Class size is limited so sign up early.
is a member of the Huachuca Astronomy Club and a contributing editor for Sky & Telescope magazine. He can be reached at tedforte511@gmail.com. Entities 0 Name: Saturn Count: 4 1 Name: Jupiter Count: 3 2 Name: Huachuca Astronomy Club Count: 2 3 Name: Venus Count: 2 4 Name: Earth Count: 2 5 Name: Sierra Vista Count: 1 6 Name: University South Foundation Count: 1 7 Name: Kalmbach Publishing Count: 1 8 Name: Sky Safari Count: 1 9 Name: Fabien Chéreau Count: 1 10 Name: Sky View Count: 1 11 Name: Star Walk Count: 1 12 Name: Arizona Count: 1 13 Name: Pluto Count: 1 14 Name: Willmann Bell Count: 1 15 Name: Patterson Observatory Count: 1 16 Name: Sky Tools Count: 1 17 Name: Sky & Telescope magazine Count: 1 18 Name: Sky & Telescope Count: 1 19 Name: Software Bisque Count: 1 20 Name: Star Chart Count: 1 21 Name: Spica Count: 1 22 Name: Starmap Count: 1 23 Name: Perseids Count: 1 Related 0 Url: http://ift.tt/1ksADEG Title: How to See the Brightest Planets in the August Sky Description: Stargazers looking to the sky in August will have a planetary smorgasbord at their disposal. Mars, Jupiter, Saturn and Venus all get their time to shine this month. In fact, the only bright planet not available for viewing sometime during August is Mercury.
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