The stargazing highlights for the week ahead.
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Each Monday I pick out the northern hemisphere’s celestial highlights (mid-northern latitudes) for the week ahead, but be sure to check my main feed for more in-depth articles on stargazing, astronomy, eclipses and more.
What To See In The Night Sky This Week: August 1-7, 2022
This week isn’t hugely eventful, but what the sky lacks in meteor showers and eclipses it makes up for in some subtly delightful views. The red planet, Mars, passes close to Uranus while Venus will align with the stars of Gemini.
Here’s what else to look for in the night sky this week:
Monday, August 1, 2022: Mars and Uranus
Stellarium
Monday, August 1, 2022: Mars and Uranus
The red planet will this morning appear to get just over 1° from the seventh planet Uranus. Look in the southeastern sky from midnight through dawn. Usefully, the Pleiades open star cluster will shine to the left of the pair. You may need binoculars to spot Uranus.
Thursday, August 4, 2022: Moon meets Spica
Stellarium
Thursday, August 4, 2022: Moon meets Spica
Look to the western sky with naked eyes just after sunset to view a 35%-illuminated waxing crescent Moon shining 4° from Spica, the brightest star in the constellation of Virgo, “The Virgin.” Arcturus, the brightest star in the constellation Boötes, “The Herdsman,” will shine above the pair.
Saturday, August 6, 2022: Venus and a ‘twin’
Stellarium
Saturday, August 6, 2022: Venus and a ‘twin’
If you are a morning person then you will know only too well that the planet Venus has been an extremely bright object low in the eastern sky before dawn for many months now. This morning it gets to within 6° of Pollux, one of the brightest stars in the constellation of Gemini, “the Twins.” The other twin, Castor, will be just beyond, with the three objects seemingly in a line.
Sunday, August 7, 2022: Moon and Antares
Stellarium
Sunday, August 7, 2022: Moon and Antares
An 78%-lit waxing gibbous Moon will tonight be visible after sunset close to Antares in the southeastern sky. One of the largest stars we know of, Antares is a red supergiant start in the constellation of Scorpius, the scorpion. It’s about 555 light-years distant. You’ll also see Saturn shining in the east.
The constellation of Cassiopeia is easy to find in the northeastern night sky this week.
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Constellation of the week: Cassiopeia
Here’s another famous constellation you can find almost every night throughout the year. Above the northeast is the unmistakable shape of a “W” on its side. Cassiopeia is almost always in the night sky because it appears to revolve around the North Pole star. It’s therefore always roughly opposite the Big Dipper.
A false-colour image of Cassiopeia A, this supernova remnant is located 10,000 light-years away in … [+]
Photo12/Universal Images Group via Getty Images
Object of the week: Cassiopeia A
Cassiopeia A is about 10,000 light-years away in the northern constellation Cassiopeia and measures around 16 light years across. It’s remnant of an exploded star in the Cassiopeia constellation that would have technically first been visible from Earth in about 1670, though it was initially covered in a lot of gas and dust. It’s expanding at up to 3,700 miles/6,000 kilometres per second and has a temperature of about 54 million degrees Fahrenheit/30 million degrees Celsius.
Wishing you clear skies and wide eyes.
Source by www.forbes.com
