Night Sky Highlights for July, August, and September, 2014
Solar System
Mars
The red planet will be visible in the evening throughout the summer months, but it is moving away from Earth, and it will have a relatively small disk when viewed through a telescope. Moving from west to east against the background stars, Mars will pass a few degrees south of Saturn on in late August.
Saturn
Saturn will be high in the evening sky throughout the summer. With its rings now open wide from our vantage point, it will be a beautiful object to observe.
Delta Aquarid and Alpha Capricornid Meteors
Peaking on July 30
The summer has many minor meteor showers, and the peaks of these two happen to coincide on July 30. The radiants for the two showers are on opposite sides of Capricornus, and the best time to observe members of these showers will be after midnight, when Capricornus is high in the south.
Perseid Meteors
Peaking on the night of August 12-13
This is probably the most popular meteor shower of the year, both because the meteors occur at a high rate and because the warm summer nights encourage many people to go out and look. This year is less than optimal because there will be a bright gibbous Moon. Nevertheless, the brighter meteors will be visible, and it will still be worthwhile to look for them. Probably because of the way the media cover such astronomical events, many people seem to think they missed the shower if it happens to be cloudy on the night of August 12-13. However, this is a long-lasting shower, and quite a few Perseids can be seen for a week or more before and after the peak night. They are visible all night long, but the best times to look are after midnight.
Neptune
This year, Neptune is in Aquarius, and at about magnitude 7.8 it can be spotted in binoculars or a finder scope if you have a map showing where to look for it, such as this one from Sky & Telescope:
http://d366w3m5tf0813.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/WEB_Uranus_Neptune_2014.pdf
Its blue-green disk is 2.3” in diameter and will show nicely with a medium-sized telescope at high power.
Pluto
If you want a challenge and have a fairly large telescope (ideally, with a 10-inch aperture or larger) you can try to track down Pluto. It is now passing through the star-rich regions of Sagittarius, making it even trickier than usual to identify. Here is a finder chart from in-the-sky.org:
http://in-the-sky.org/findercharts.php?obj=pluto&year=2014
Venus
Throughout the summer months, Venus will be the brightest object in the eastern sky before sunrise.
Mercury
The best opportunity to spot this fast-moving planet this summer will be in the eastern sky before dawn in mid-July. It will be farthest from the Sun, and therefore easier to observe, on July 12.
Deep Sky Objects
The summer sky is so full of wonderful deep-sky objects that it is hard to know where to start. Listed here are just a few of the most famous and most interesting objects. Several of them can be seen, at least dimly, with the naked eye. All are great sights in binoculars or telescopes.
Messier 6, the Butterfly Cluster
Open cluster in Scorpius
Through a telescope, this cluster really does look like the outstretched wings of a butterfly.
Messier 7, Ptolemy’s cluster
Open cluster in Scorpius
The fact that this cluster was recorded by the ancient astronomer, Claudius Ptolemy, should tell you that it is a fairly easy naked-eye object. Through binoculars, it has a rough “X” shape. Through a telescope, it sparkles with blue-white stars.
Messier 8, the Lagoon Nebula
Diffuse nebula with open cluster in Sagittarius
This nebula is also pretty easy to see with the naked eye as a fuzzy spot above the spout of the Sagittarius teapot. Through binoculars or a telescope, it has a bright center that some see as an hourglass shape, surrounded by diffuse patches of nebula, and with the open cluster NGC 6530 on its eastern edge.
Messier 17, the Swan Nebula
Diffuse nebula in Sagittarius
This high contrast emission nebula has the shape of a swan floating on a pond in profile. Its shape can even be seen in binoculars (though it appears upside-down from the northern hemisphere). It is also called the Omega Nebula or the Horseshoe Nebula.
Messier 22
Globular cluster in Sagittarius
This is one of the most spectacular globular clusters in the sky. It is relatively nearby, and with a telescope of moderate aperture, it can be resolved to the core, with countless stars streaming out in all directions. The Milky Way background adds to the beauty of the scene.
Messier 24, the Sagittarius Star Cloud
Milky Way star cloud in Sagittarius
On a clear dark night, look about 5 degrees above the lid of the Sagittarius teapot, and you should see a bright patch of the Milky Way, about 1.5 degrees in diameter. M24 is a concentrated section of the Milky Way. With a telescope, stars by the thousands can be seen by slowly panning through this region of sky.
Albireo
Double star in Cygnus
The star that marks the head of Cygnus the Swan is a very colorful double star that can be seen nicely through even a small telescope. The brighter component is yellow-orange, and the dimmer component is blue.
NGC 6543, Cat’s Eye Nebula
Planetary Nebula in Draco
In addition to the Ring Nebula, this is another fine planetary nebula that is high in the sky during the summer. It is smaller in size than the Ring, but it is brighter and has a distinct green color.
NGC 6503
Spiral galaxy in Draco
Just a few degrees from the Cat’s Eye Nebula is this dwarf spiral galaxy. It is estimated to be about 17 million light years away, and only about one-third the diameter of our Milky Way Galaxy. It is quite elongated, and has a high surface brightness that makes it a fairly easy telescopic object.