The Night Sky in August

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THE moon is new on August 15 at 3·9h. U.T. and full on August 29 at 22·lh. On August 25, ρ Sagittarii (magnitude 4·0) is occulted, the disappearance as seen from Greenwich taking place at 23h. 48·9m. at position angle 77° from the north point of the moon's disk. Conjunctions between moon and planets occur as follows: August 5d. 14h. with Jupiter; 7d. 9h. with Saturn; 26d. 14h. with Mars. On August 25 at 20h. Venus is in conjunction with Regulus, the geocentric distance between the planet and the star being 0·9°. Mars, Jupiter and Saturn rise in the evening, the respective times of southing on August 1 being 23h. 23m., 3h. 55m., and 5h. 20m.; by August 25 these times have changed to 21h. 35m., 2h. 17m. and 3h. 46m. Mars, a conspicuous object low in the evening sky, declines in brightness during the month from mag. — 2·5 to — 1·8; Jupiter increases slightly from mag. — 2·3 to — 2·4. Mercury reaches its greatest western elongation (18°) on August 28 and should be looked for in the early morning at about this date. Venus continues as a morning star rising in the dawn at 3h. 2Cm. on August 1 and at 4h. 38m. on August 25. Saturn reaches a stationary point on August 14, Mercury on August 20, Mars on August 24 and Uranus on August 28. The minor planet June is in opposition on August 19, when its magnitude is 8·3; on August 1 it is about 50′ south of α Aquarii. The Perseids reach their maximum frequency on or about August 9, their radiant point being near η Persei. In the late evenings of mid-August, with the moon absent, the region of the Milky Way near the southern meridian offers interesting ‘sweeps’ with binoculars or telescope.