<\/p>\n
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0August means cooler evenings, a noticeable shortening of the daylight hours as we reach the midpoint between the Summer Solstice and Fall Equinox, and (hopefully) clear skies to provide some\u00a0 prime sky watching conditions.\u00a0 It is also the time of year when people eagerly anticipate the annual <\/span>Perseid meteor shower<\/b>.\u00a0 The peak of this year\u2019s Persied\u2019s will fall in the pre-dawn hours of August 12, but increased meteor activity usually occurs several days before and after the peak.\u00a0 The <\/span>New Moon<\/b> will take place just four days earlier on August 8, so the very young<\/span> Crescent Moon<\/b> will not hamper viewing.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0The Persied\u2019s are known to some Catholics as the \u201ctears of Saint Lawrence\u201dor the \u2018coals of Saint Lawrence\u201d to mark that saint\u2019s martyrdom in 258 AD.\u00a0 In 1835, Adolphe Quetelet noted the shower emanated from the constellation Perseus.\u00a0 Italian astronomer Giovanni Schiaparelli discovered the link between meteor showers and comets in 1866 from observations of comet <\/span>Swift-Tuttle\u2019s<\/b> perihelion<\/b> pass (closest approach to the <\/span>Sun<\/b>) in 1862.\u00a0 Though it takes 133 years for Swift-Tuttle to complete one orbit of the Sun, a cloud of particles ejected by the comet each time it nears the Sun remains.\u00a0 Typically, a comet grows a tail as the Sun energizes the comet\u2019s coma or core and meteor showers are created when the Earth passes through this stream of cometary debris.\u00a0 Swift-Tuttle\u2019s last perihelion approach was in 1992 but the stream of debris remains even as the comet is outward bound and will not make the next close approach to the Sun until 2125.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0The <\/span>radiant<\/b>, or the point from which meteors appear to originate, for the Perseids only appears to be in the vicinity of the constellation.\u00a0 The particles that we observe as streaks of light are heated by atmospheric friction and they burn up about 60 miles above the Earth\u2019s surface.\u00a0 The stars in this shower\u2019s namesake constellation, <\/span>Perseus, the Hero, <\/b>are actually located light-years away so the meteors only appear to be \u2018coming from the constellation.\u201d.<\/span><\/p>\n Perseus can be located in the Northeast after midnight, just below the \u20183 shaped\u2019 <\/span>Cassiopeia.<\/b><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Having previously mentioned the New and Crescent phases, other notable Lunar dates for August will include the <\/span>First Quarter <\/b>(Aug 15), the <\/span>Full Moon<\/b> (Aug 22), and the <\/span>Last Quarter <\/b>(Aug 30).\u00a0 The August Full Moon will be a <\/span>Blue Moon<\/b>, but not because it will actually appear blue in color.\u00a0 We have previously defined a \u2018blue moon\u2019 as the second full moon taking place in one calendar month.\u00a0 The August Blue Moon meets a second definition:\u00a0 the third of four full moons occurring in a single season.\u00a0 A third description to the term could be made by including the song<\/span> Blue Moon<\/span><\/i>.\u00a0 Most people probably first heard the song as recorded by The Marcels, but the list of artists who have recorded the number would stretch longer than this whole AstroCal.\u00a0 Everybody from Frank Sinatra to The Beatles have done versions of <\/span>Blue Moon<\/span><\/i>, so I was curious if it was written about the astronomical blue moon.\u00a0 The original tune and lyrics were written by Rogers and Hart for Jean Harlow to sing in an MGM movie in 1933 (originally titled <\/span>Prayer<\/span><\/i>).\u00a0 New lyrics were written and it served as the title song for the 1934 film <\/span>Manhattan Melodrama.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n MGM\u2019s Jack Robbins convinced a reluctant Hart to pen one more set of lyrics because he felt it had commercial appeal (with more romantic lyrics).\u00a0 As a result, the first recorded version of <\/span>Blue Moon<\/span><\/i> (the one that lives on today) first appeared in the <\/span>Variety Top Ten<\/span><\/i> in January of 1935 where it stayed for 18 weeks..<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Planetary observations for August haven\u2019t changed much since July.\u00a0 <\/span>Mars<\/b> will be a challenge as it sets in the west only an hour after sunset early in the month.\u00a0 Look for it just below and to the left of the young Crescent Moon on August 9.\u00a0 <\/span>Jupiter <\/b>rises in the ESE an hour after sunset while <\/span>Saturn<\/b> will be located slightly above and to the right of its fellow gas giant.\u00a0 Saturn will be at <\/span>opposition<\/b> on Aug 2 with a magnitude of +0.2\u00a0 while Jupiter reaches opposition on Aug 18.\u00a0 Both Jupiter and Saturn will still be visible in the SW before dawn.\u00a0 <\/span>Mercury <\/b>will appear near Mars on Aug 18 and replace it in the western sky as the <\/span>Red Planet<\/b> continues to drop from view.\u00a0 <\/span>Venus <\/b>will be the easiest of the four evening planets to view shining bright at -4.5 magnitude.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0The viewing challenge for the month is the <\/span>variable star Mira<\/b>.\u00a0 Look for it in the pre-dawn sky in the constellation of <\/span>Cetus the Whale.<\/b>\u00a0 Mira dims and brightens on a 11-month cycle and should be visible for a couple of months to the unaided eye shining at magnitude +3.0.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Compiled by Ken Raisanen of WOAS-FM – information provided by <\/span>Abrams Planetarium Sky Calendar<\/span><\/i>, Michigan State University.\u00a0 More information and subscription information can be found on the their website at <\/span>http:\/\/abramsplanetarium.org\/<\/span><\/a>skycalendar\/ or on Twitter at <\/span>http:\/\/twitter.com\/AbramsSkyNotes<\/span><\/a>.\u00a0 Yearly subscriptions cost $12 and can be started anytime.<\/span><\/p>\n Top Piece Video:\u00a0 I am told by a knowledgeable source that listening to continuous playbacks of\u00a0Blue Moon\u00a0<\/em>can lead to insanity.\u00a0 Never-the-less, here are the above mentioned Marcels.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0August means cooler evenings, a noticeable shortening of the daylight hours as we reach the midpoint between the Summer Solstice and Fall Equinox, and (hopefully) clear skies to provide some\u00a0 prime sky watching conditions.\u00a0 It is also the time of year when people eagerly anticipate the annual Perseid meteor shower.\u00a0 The peak of this 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