By Duncan Lunan

The Moon will be New on August 1^st and 30^th, Full on August 15^th, and on the night of 23^rd/24th August, it will rise about 1 a.m. as it begins to pass across the Hyades Open Cluster in Taurus.

On 9^th August the planet Mercury will be at greatest elongation from the Sun, low in the morning sky between 5 and 6 a.m., easiest to see about the middle of the month, and it will be passed by the New Moon on the 30^th after it has disappeared from view.   At that point the Sun, Moon, Mercury, Venus and Mars will all be in the constellation Leo, but there will be nothing to see.

Venus and Mars are not visible this month.  Venus is at superior conjunction, on the far side of the Sun, on August 14^th.   Mars is near the New Moon on the 1^st, but neither will be visible.

Jupiter in Ophiucus sets about midnight, and reaches an apparent ‘stationary point’ on the 11^th, after which it will begin to move eastward again against the stars, now that the Earth is pulling ahead of it.   Jupiter appears near the Moon on the 9^th.

Saturn in Sagittarius is now higher in the sky than Jupiter, well to the left above the ‘Teapot’ asterism in Sagittarius, and sets about 2.30 a.m., still moving westward after being passed by the Earth last month.   Saturn is near the Moon on the 12^th., and will pass behind it as seen from East Australia and New Zealand.

 Uranus in Aries rises about 10.30 p.m. and it comes to a stationary point on August 12^th, then moving westward as it’s overtaken by the Earth before opposition in October.

Neptune in Aquarius is in the sky all night long, moving westward towards opposition in September, near the Moon on the 17^th.

Pluto is following a similar loop to Jupiter’s, Saturn’s, Uranus’s and Neptune’s, to the left of the ‘Teapot’ in Sagittarius, following its opposition to the Earth on July 14^th.   Pluto is currently moving westward after being passed by the Earth, and reverses its apparent course on October 3^rd.   Pluto is passed by the Moon on August 12^th, and will be occulted by it, seen from central Africa, possibly yielding useful data after the 2015 New Horizons flyby.

The annual Perseid meteor shower from Comet Swift-Tuttle, the Great Comet of 1862, will peak on the night of 12/13^th August, but will be spoiled by moonlight this year.

At the Astronomers of the Future Club meeting on Thursday August 29^th the guest speaker will be Dr. Gerry Nordley, space scientist, amateur astronomer and science fiction writer, talking about the wide-ranging scientific background of his story ‘Empress of Starlight’, published in Analog magazine, Nov/Dec 2018.  The meeting will be from 19:15 to 21:00 hrs at the RSAS Barassie Works Club, 4 Shore Road, Troon, KA10 6AG.   For more details, contact Alan Martin on 07947 331632.

Duncan Lunan’s new book “From the Moon to the Stars”, a collection of space travel stories old and new relating to the Moon and Project Apollo, is now available from the publishers at https://othersidebooks.wordpress.com, as well as on Amazon or through booksellers;  details of that and his other books are on Duncan’s website, www.duncanlunan.com