The most beautiful shooting star of the year is coming
The night sky in August offers several reasons to look up: The Perseid meteor shower brings up to 100 shooting stars per hour, along with fireballs. Additionally, the nearly full moon covers Saturn - a cosmic spectacle.
August begins with night sky fireworks: A large number of shooting stars are expected from the Perseid meteor shower. The peak will occur between August 9 and 13. Bright objects, known as bolides or fireballs, are not uncommon.
The most meteors are expected in the early morning hours of August 12. The Perseids are the richest and most beautiful meteor shower of the year, with up to 100 shooting stars per hour. The best time to observe them is between 11 pm and 4 am.
The Perseids travel at a speed of 60 kilometers per second. At this speed, it would take only 90 minutes to travel from Earth to the Moon. Most meteoroids vaporize in Earth's atmosphere, but some may strike the Earth's surface or fall into the ocean. Very rarely, a meteorite may strike in densely populated areas.
Another notable celestial event: Moon and Saturn
There's another notable celestial event this month: The nearly full moon will cover the planet Saturn. Our solar system neighbor will pass in front of the ringed planet on August 21, covering it for an hour. Exact times vary by location. In Hamburg, the event begins at 5:33 am, in Berlin at 5:34 am, in Düsseldorf at 5:31 am, in Leipzig at 5:30 am, and in Munich at 5:33 am.
About an hour later, the moon will release Saturn, and the ringed planet will reappear on the moon's western edge. The event is particularly impressive when viewed through a telescope, as the rings and planetary globe slowly disappear behind the moon's edge and reappear an hour later on the dark western edge of the moon.
Venus begins its evening star period
Saturn in the constellation Aquarius will gradually become the planet of the entire night in August. At the beginning of the month, it rises around 10:30 pm, and by the end of the month, it rises half an hour after sunset. Venus appears in the evening sky and begins its evening star period. It is the first celestial body to be seen in the increasing evening twilight.
On August 4, Venus will pass north of Regulus, the brightest star in Leo. A day later, it will meet the waxing crescent moon. By the end of the month, Venus will cross the celestial equator in a southerly direction. Its settings will become earlier, from 9:46 pm at the beginning of the month to just before 9 pm at the end of the month.
Mars is the planet of the second half of the night. It travels through the constellation Taurus and passes its brightest star, Aldebaran, at the beginning of the month, five degrees north of it. In mid-August, the reddish Mars will pass north of the much brighter, white Jupiter.
Jupiter dominates the second half of the night. A pleasant sight in the sky occurs on August 28 around 3 am: The waning moon joins Mars and Jupiter above the eastern horizon. Mercury will overtake Earth on its inner orbit on August 19, but the swift planet will remain invisible throughout the month.
Vega stands high in the sky
The Summer Triangle is now high in the south. Steeply above our heads, we can see Vega, 25 light-years away in the constellation Lyra. Next to Lyra, the Swan spreads its wings, marked by a large asterism known as the "Northern Cross." Its brightest star, Deneb, marks the second vertex of the Summer Triangle.
**Deneb is the farthest of the bright stars of the first magnitude. Its distance measures 2500 light-years. It is one of the so-called supergiant stars with nearly 200 times the diameter of the Sun and a luminosity that is 50,000 times that of our Sun. Deneb is thus one of the largest and brightest stars in our Milchstraße.
Atair, the third star of the Summer Triangle, forms the main star of Aquila, which appears to be diving towards its prey. At 17 light-years away, the Eagle Star is one of the Sun's neighboring stars.
The Big Dipper has descended towards the northwest, while in the northeast, the Heavenly W, Cassiopeia, is rising.
Moonlight hinders visibility of the Milchstraße
The shimmering band of the summer Milchstraße is only visible far from Earth's light pollution even in August. The softly glowing band of thousands of sparkling stars can therefore only be observed by many people rarely or never. Even moonlight hinders visibility.
New Moon will be reached on August 4 at 13:13 UTC. Full Moon occurs on the 19th at 20:26 UTC in the constellation Aquarius. On August 9, the Moon is at its farthest from Earth at 405,297 kilometers, while on the 21st, it is closest at 360,196 kilometers.
The Sun is moving along the descending branch of its annual path and approaching the celestial equator. On August 10, it leaves the constellation Cancer at midday and enters Leo, passing its main star, Regulus, on the 22nd. On the same day, it enters the zodiac sign Virgo in the afternoon.
The midday height of the Sun decreases by more than nine degrees, and the day length shortens by nearly two hours at 50 degrees north latitude.
The Perseid meteor shower, featuring up to 100 shooting stars per hour and bright fireballs, is caused by debris from Comet Swift-Tuttle colliding with the Earth's atmosphere. The sun, being a significant factor in this celestial event, sets shortly after the peak of the meteor shower, providing a beautiful contrast between the remaining meteors and the dark night sky.
