Eagleseye

by Dave Eagle

KEEP LOOKING UP

For a printable PDF version of this page, click here.

LATEST SPACE-FLIGHT NEWS
The ISS will be visible in the evening sky until the 11th of September.
It will then be unobservable from our location until the beginning of October, when it will be visible in the early morning sky.

The last two scheduled shuttle Missions are:
Discovery – November 1st 2010.
Endeavour – February 26th 2011.

Visit Heavens-Above for more details of ISS and other satellite spotting opportunities.

Any questions, comments or have I made a mistake?
E Mail me: (Dave@eagleseye.co.uk).

I always try and keep this page as up to date as I can, so kee p visiting regularly for the latest information.

Sky condition prediction for Higham Ferrers.

ALL TIMES Universal Time (UT) (=GMT) Unless stated.

The Stars (22:00h on the 1st, 21:00h on the 15th and 20:00h on the 31st of the month).

The Equinox occurs on the 23rd, so we are now well into the new observing season with dark skies now much earlier in the evening.
Cygnus reaches its highest point almost overhead with Aquila and Scutum lower in the southern sky.
The top of the Sagittarius “Tea-Pot” may be spotted low down just above the southern horizon.
Can you spot the bright nebula M8 (The Lagoon nebula) and M22, a bright globular cluster in binoculars?
Arcturus is now getting low down in the western sky, followed by the two giants Hercules and Ophiuchius.
In the eastern sky Aries and Perseus are rising.
At the foot of Perseus lies M44, The Pleiades star cluster. How early does your horizon enable you to see them?

Algol – This variable star can be seen fading from magnitude 2.1 to 3.4 at the following times: 11th — 03:58h, 14th – 00:47h.

The Moons and its phases this month.

Moon phase calendar generated using Graphdark By Richard Fleet. Click here to download.

1st Last Qtr.
8th  New
15th First Qtr.
23rd Full.

As an aid to identifying the planets and stars, the Moon will be close to:

Mars & Venus on the 11th.
Neptune on the 20th.
Jupiter & Uranus on the 23rd.

The Planets.

Mercury
Reaches inferior conjunction on the 3rd, so is unlikely to be seen at the beginning of the month.
However as Mercury orbits the Sun very rapidly, it soon moves away from the Sun, reaching greatest elongation on the 19th.
At this time it will be visible as a 0.8 magnitude object in brightening dawn in the eastern sky before sunrise.

Venus
Brilliant at magnitude -4.3 low in the western sky soon after sunset.
This bright planet will soon be lost in the evening twilight.
Venus is close to Mars on the 29th and helps point the way to the much fainter Red Planet.

Mars
Extremely difficult to see as it is small and faint at magnitude 1.5 low in the western sky after sunset.
Use the much brighter Venus to find it as it when it passes close by on the 29th.

Jupiter
Reaches opposition on the 21st. It is extremely bright (mag. -2.8) in Pisces so is sufficiently high up to see great detail in the cloud belts.
Jupiter and Uranus are within 1 degree of one another on the 22nd.

Saturn
Too lost in the evening twilight and too close to the Sun to be seen this month.

Uranus
Also reaches opposition on the 21st in Pisces.
Jupiter acts as a guide to finding this +5.7 magnitude planet when it passes by at less than a degree on the 22nd.

Neptune
At magnitude +7.9 in  Aquarius, but will require binoculars or a telescope to identify amongst the background stars.

The Sun
A new solar cycle has started, and the Sun has had a recent flurry of sunspot activity with some nice large spots groups now appearing.
Click here for latest news.
There have also been some large prominences visible from time to time, so if you have access to a Ha solar scope, take a look.

All times UT (GMT) Unless otherwise stated.

Thank you for visiting my site, I hope you have found it of interest.

If you have, or even if you have not, please let me know so I can improve: dave@eagleseye.co.uk

Dave Eagle

Eagles Eye On The Sky.

Keep Looking Up!