Saturn, Perseid Meteors And A Super Blue Moon In August Skywatching

Space.com

Catch Saturn at opposition this month. The annual Perseid meteor shower will peak on Aug. 12 and skywatchers will be treated to a Super Blue Moon.   Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

Transcript

00:00 What's up for August?

00:04 See Saturn at dusk and dawn, the Perseid meteors return, and a super blue moon.

00:12 In August, we've lost Venus and Mars from the evening sky, but we'll have great views

00:16 of Saturn all night.

00:19 Saturn reaches opposition this month, meaning it's directly opposite the Sun as seen from

00:23 Earth.

00:24 Planets in opposition rise just after sunset and are visible until dawn, and it's when

00:29 they appear at their biggest and brightest for the year.

00:32 Look for the giant planet low in the eastern sky around 9 p.m. by mid-month, appearing

00:37 a bit higher each evening as August continues.

00:40 On the morning of August 3rd, Saturn appears just a couple of finger widths apart from

00:44 the nearly full moon.

00:46 Find them in the west before sunrise.

00:49 The moon then makes a nice pairing with the Pleiades star cluster on the morning of the

00:53 9th, with Jupiter hanging nearby.

00:56 The moon then has a super close meetup with the reddish star Antares, brightest star in

01:01 the constellation Scorpius, on the evening of August 24th.

01:06 August brings one of the best-known annual meteor showers, the Perseids.

01:11 And this year, the stage is set for a good show as the peak night, August 12th and into

01:16 the 13th, is near the new moon.

01:18 The meteors are bits of dust, most no larger than sand grains, that originate from comet

01:23 Swift-Tuttle.

01:25 Swift sweeps through the comet's debris trail every year about this same time, resulting

01:29 in the annual shower.

01:31 The radiant, the point in the sky where the meteors appear to originate, is toward the

01:35 northeast, appearing in between the upside-down "W" of constellation Cassiopeia and bright

01:41 star Capella.

01:43 Observing the Perseids is easy.

01:45 Just find yourself a safe, dark spot to lie down with your feet pointing roughly toward

01:49 the northeast and look straight up.

01:51 The best time to view them is between midnight and dawn as the radiant rises higher in the

01:56 sky.

01:57 Meteor activity likely will be at its greatest in the hour preceding dawn.

02:01 The crescent moon also rises in the couple of hours before dawn, but it's only about

02:06 7% illuminated, so it shouldn't pose a significant problem for viewing the meteors.

02:11 You might also see a few meteors in the early morning hours during the week before and after

02:15 the peak.

02:17 August begins and ends with a full moon, making for a special occurrence that only happens

02:22 every couple of years.

02:24 You see, a second full moon in a single calendar month is commonly called a "blue moon."

02:30 They happen every two to three years because the moon's monthly cycle is just a bit shorter

02:34 than the average length of a month.

02:37 So eventually a full moon will happen at the beginning of a month with enough days left

02:41 for a complete lunar cycle.

02:43 When that happens, we get a blue moon.

02:46 But there's more.

02:47 The August 30th blue moon is also a supermoon.

02:51 The moon's orbit isn't a perfect circle, so sometimes it's a little farther away from

02:55 Earth and sometimes closer.

02:57 At its closest point, called perigee, it's 14% closer than at its farthest.

03:04 About three to four times a year, the full moon phase happens to coincide with the moon

03:08 reaching perigee, and we call that event a supermoon.

03:12 While it technically appears a bit bigger and a tad brighter than the average full moon,

03:17 the difference is not super noticeable to the eye.

03:20 The combination of these two special full moons making for a super blue moon occurs

03:26 about every 10 years on average, though the time between any two occurrences can vary

03:31 from two months to two decades or more.

03:35 So enjoy this month's two full moons.

03:38 And while the second one won't appear supersized or any bluer than usual, now you know what

03:44 makes it special.

03:47 Here are the phases of the moon for August.

03:51 Stay up to date with all of NASA's missions to explore the solar system and beyond at

03:56 nasa.gov.

03:57 I'm Preston Dyches from NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, and that's what's up for this

04:01 month.

04:02 [music]

04:07 [MUSIC]

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