![]() ![]() Mercury will be the brighter of the two and moves noticeably from day to day. Mercury is visible in the west after sunset for the whole month, as is Mars. And here it will stay for the next 9 months marking the imminent arrival of the Sun. After a short absence it will appear in the east before sunrise to become the ‘morning star’. This means it will be out during the day and lost in the glare of sunlight. It is currently overtaking Earth in its orbit of the Sun, meaning it will be passing in front of the Sun as seen from Earth. ![]() Venus is gone is gone from the evening skies after the first week or so of the month. Table: Times and dates to spot the ISS from Perth Most of these passes are too faint to see but a couple of notable sightings are: Date, time The International Space Station passes overhead multiple times a day. Only those up in the top end have any real chance of seeing this shower as it peaks around Aug 13, however you may see a few meteors peeking out very low above the northern horizon if you are out before sunrise. This is a very reliable and famous shower so you will probably hear about it in your media feeds, but unfortunately it is so far north that it is largely unobservable from Australia. The Perseid meteor shower occurs this month. Mercury is visible in the western sky all month for an hour or so after sunset and is definitely worth a look. Image: Supermoon (left) and an average full moon (right)Ī supermoon also means that new moon occurs at apogee – its furthest point from Earth – and so will look smaller than usual, a so called ‘minimoon’. ![]() This being said, the actual difference in size is difficult to notice unless you have a before and after. Being at full moon phase at perigee means the supermoon will be larger in the sky by about 5% and thus brighter than an ‘average’ full moon by about 12%. A supermoon is when the full moon occurs at or around perigee – the closest point to Earth in the Moon’s orbit. Interestingly, both full moons are ‘supermoons’. Blue moons are quite rare, happening only every 2-3 years, and this exceeding rarity motivates the saying “once in a blue moon” to describe something of great infrequence. The second full moon is called a ‘blue moon’ but of course be aware that this has nothing to do with its actual colour it will still look like every other full moon you’ve ever seen. There are two full moons this month, on Aug 2 and Aug 31. The teapot asterism in Sagittarius is shown in green. Image: Scorpius and Sagittarius and the bright centre of the Milky Way. These constellations straddle the bright centre of the Milky Way galaxy as it looms overhead. ![]() By comparison, Sagittarius is a complete mess of a constellation, but the teapot asterism is reasonably easy to spot. Scorpius is easily spotted, with bright red Antares marking the heart of the Scorpion and the distinctive hook shape pattern of stars marking the tail standing out easily from background stars. Sagittarius and Scorpius dominate the night sky this month. Sunrise is getting earlier and sunset is getting later, with Aug 31 having about 27 minutes more daylight than Aug 1. There will still be plenty of wet weather, but we should start to see more cold, clear nights. Alcoa Digital Technologies Enrichment ProgramĪugust brings us into the season of Djilba – the First Spring.Statement by Scitech on the Voice referendum. ![]()
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