Hello Stargazers!
Happy August! Today is the 100% Full Moon; August boasts the Sturgeon Moon or the Red Moon. The sturgeon is a fish in the Great Lakes areas that continues to be most easily caught around the August Full Moon pattern. The red moon reflects that those humid and sultry evenings can cause a reddish-orange moon to appear in the sky.
August is a prime month for some fun viewing in the sky, unless of course you are sitting under the monsoon pattern thunderstorms out in southern Arizona. Look for the following this week:
1) Perseids meteor shower (although the full moon will wash out most of the shower activity); the peak is this evening/early dawn! For the next about three to four days thereafter, you can still see the remainder of the activity. When folks recall their childhood meteor shower experiences, chances are that it was a summer night and it was the Perseids. They are certainly "cosmic fireworks!" I remember plenty of times heading out and viewing the showers. One time in my childhood single-digits, I sat underneath the night sky and put out a white sheet, hoping to catch some "meteor dust!" Another time I remember sitting behind my next door neighbor's house sipping on apple cider and chatting about teenage angst.
2) Neptune Viewing August 22nd (I am hoping for a clear sky, as I have never viewed Neptune!) Although this will only appear as a little blue speck in the binoculars, and a larger one in a telescope, it is worth viewing as Neptune has not been this close in quite some time, if you can say Neptune is astronomically "close," being so far out into the solar system.
3) Another fun link at the bottom of the blog: A satellite tracker! I would argue that Spaceweather is a pretty good introduction to what you can find in the night sky other than the cosmic. The International Space Station (ISS) is a favorite, but take a look around for other interesting satellites and man-made junk!
I am getting that inner yearning for fall evenings in the core of my being. Of course, it seems that this deep character trait has been well-developed over the years growing up in the Northeast. It is about this time I start to plan to pull out my foliage pictures and longingly stare at them, dreaming of long New England walks in the woods. The evening get a bit more chilly and there is something about looking at the late summer and fall constellations that brings nostalgia to me. The fall night sky also reminds me of the start of my journey into the wonderful past time of stargazing close to five years ago...yes, FIVE years ago! I am fondly smiling.
Into September the posts will pick up again and we will visit the bottom of the lineup of the zodiac constellations, enjoy a few deep-sky gems, and dig deep into one of the richest mythological stories in the night sky: Perseus and Andromeda!
Be Well until then!
P.S. Keep looking for updates to Spirit Stories!
P.S.S. You might have noticed the new book list on the blog; these are 30 "classics" that I would like to take on, perhaps over the next year or so...anyone interested in a "blog book club?"
