August 2007 astronomy events

Planet watching isn't the greatest this month. For many people, that will be made up by a lunar eclipse. Also, for northern hemisphere observers, nights are noticeably longer.

If you like a challenge, here are three. Venus, Saturn, and Mercury are lost in the sun's glare this month. Venus and Saturn start the month as evening objects. Mercury starts August in the morning up barely before the sun. Mercury's situation is helped by the fact that it's on the other side of the sun and is therefore at full illumination. By the end of the month, Mercury has become an evening object and Saturn and Venus are barely up in the morning sky before the sun. They'll all still be close enough to the sun as to be no less of a challenge to find.

Venus and Mercury are at solar conjunction at nearly the same time but they're on opposite sides of the sun. Mercury's is superior, on the far side of the sun on the 15th. Venus's is inferior, between the earth and the sun on the 18th.

Jupiter is a finely positioned object for the evening observer this month. By the head of Scorpio, it is close to the meridian when darkness sets in except for those in high latitudes. The moon visits them on the 22nd.

Mars is high in the morning sky among the stars of Taurus. A waning moon will pass by them on the 7th.

Neptune reaches opposition this month on the 13th.

The nearly 1.5 magnitude lunar eclipse on August 28th will happen as the moon rises (an evening event) for parts of Asia and Australia. It will be setting for early morning observers in the Americas. Most of the Pacific Ocean will get the entire five and a half hour eclipse. The moon enters the earth's penumbra at 7:52 and leaves it at 13:22. The umbral phase will be from 8:50 to 12:23. The hour and a half long totality will last from 9:52 to 11:22. As the moon passes so deep into the earth's shadow, this eclipse is likely to be dark, although total lunar eclipses aren't usually black or dark brown. Dark red or orange wouldn't be unusual. The most spectacular hues of red should be visible for those who see it close to moonrise or moonset. Of course, what color this eclipse will be won't be known until it happens. It depends a lot on Earth's weather and what the sunlight has to go through as it's refracted through Earth's atmosphere on its way to the moon. Click here for a visibility map.