{"id":3612,"date":"2025-08-03T21:06:53","date_gmt":"2025-08-03T21:06:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/?p=3612"},"modified":"2025-08-03T21:09:01","modified_gmt":"2025-08-03T21:09:01","slug":"astrocal-august-2025","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/?p=3612","title":{"rendered":"AstroCal – August 2025"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0By mid-August, we will be halfway between the Summer Solstice and Autumnal Equinox.\u00a0 The hours of the day will be decreasing toward the 12 hours of daylight \/ 12 hours of darkness that marks the Equinox (translated as \u2018Equal Night\u2019).\u00a0 On the plus side, the land and water of the northern hemisphere have now absorbed a significant amount of solar energy and that means we have entered the period of prime recreation along the south shore of Lake Superior.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Before we look at this month\u2019s astronomical highlights, I found an interesting item recently from <\/span>EarthSkyNews<\/span><\/i> under the title \u201c<\/span>Star survives black hole, returns for another round<\/span><\/a>\u201d:\u00a0 \u201cIn 2022, astronomers spotted a bright flare at the center of a galaxy some 408 million light years away.\u00a0 Labeled AT 2022dbl, it was what\u2019s known as a tidal disruption event, where a star passes too close to a massive black hole, which rips it to shreds.\u00a0 These incredibly energetic events are nothing new to astronomers.\u00a0 But a surprise came two years later, when researchers spotted a nearly identical flare in exactly the same location.\u00a0 Having confirmed it wasn\u2019t just a similar star suffering the same fate, the astronomers said last week that this was the first confirmed case of a star surviving a tidal disruption event and returning to experience another.\u201d\u00a0 So much for those who say \u2018there is nothing new to learn about the universe\u2019.\u00a0 Incidentally, at 408 million light years distance, this means the event they observed in 2022 took place 408 million years ago and the light recording the event took that long to reach us.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0We will start our August report noting the annual <\/span>Perseids Meteor Shower<\/b> will peak on August 12-13, 2025.\u00a0 The<\/span> Full Moon<\/b> falling on August 9 may make observing the fainter meteors more difficult, but with the Perseid\u2019s radiation point located in the northeast, this should help.\u00a0 To confirm if a sighting is a Perseids meteor, trace its path from the end toward where it was first observed.\u00a0 If the path points at the constellation <\/span>Perseus, the Hero<\/b>, (the famed slayer of the snake-haired Gorgon, Medusa), then it is from that swarm.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Other Lunar events for the month include the <\/span>First Quarter Moon<\/b> (Aug 1), the <\/span>Third Quarter Moon<\/b> (Aug 16), and the <\/span>New Moon<\/b> of the next cycle on Aug 23.\u00a0 This third New Moon of a season of four new moons is also known as a \u2018Black Moon\u2019.\u00a0 The first views of the <\/span>Very Young Crescent Moon<\/b> can be seen low in the western sky just after sunset on August 25.\u00a0 Remember to look for <\/span>Earthshine<\/b> (also known as <\/span>Da Vinci Glow<\/b>) on the nights before and after a New Moon.\u00a0 If the conditions are right, one can see the entire disk of the Moon dimly illuminated in a bluish-gray glow that appears adjacent to the brightly lit Crescent Moon.\u00a0 This glow is produced by light from a fully illuminated Earth reflecting off the lunar surface.\u00a0 According to <\/span>Space.com<\/span><\/a>, this event is sometimes described as, \u201cThe old Moon in the new Moon\u2019s arms.\u201d (Earthshine description courtesy of <\/span>Space.com<\/span><\/a>).\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0On August 10, look for six planets to appear in the same sky – four of which can be seen without any fancy gear.\u00a0 <\/span>Mercury <\/b>(mag +1.5 to -0.3 from beginning to end of the month)<\/span>, Venus <\/b>(mag -4.0)<\/span>, Jupiter <\/b>(mag -1.9)<\/span>, Saturn <\/b>(mag +0.4)<\/span>, Uranus <\/b>(mag +5.7)<\/span> and <\/span>Neptune <\/b>(mag +7.8) will all be above the horizon at the same time, but there is a small catch.\u00a0 You will have to view them just before sunrise.\u00a0 <\/span>Mars<\/b> will not join the parade this month as it will rise and set with the <\/span>Sun <\/b>all month.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Venus and Jupiter will be the two easiest planets to observe as they will be above the eastern horizon between 4:00 and 5:00 a.m. local time.\u00a0 As the month wears on, Jupiter will begin to catch up with Venus as the gap between them closes.\u00a0 Their conjunction, or closest approach, will take place on August 13\/14.\u00a0 Uranus will be a little trickier to see if you look high up in the east, between the <\/span>Hyades star cluster<\/b> and the <\/span>Pleiades star cluster.<\/b><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>Saturn<\/b> and <\/span>Neptune <\/b>will be close together in the south with Neptune being above Saturn.\u00a0 Look for them both to the left of the <\/span>Circlet star pattern<\/b> in the constellation of <\/span>Pisces, the Fish.<\/b><\/p>\n

Neptune will be faint enough to require a telescope this month*.\u00a0 Mercury will not be visible yet as it reached inferior conjunction on the first of the month.\u00a0 In other words, Mercury is located between the Earth and the Sun and therefore lost in the Sun\u2019s glare.\u00a0 Look for it to become visible in the morning sky close to the horizon around the 18th and 19th of August.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>*REMEMBER<\/b> – use caution when using binoculars or telescopes just before sunrise – the retina of your eye can be<\/span> PERMANENTLY DAMAGED<\/b> if you accidentally view the\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Sun through binoculars or your telescoper!<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>Compiled by Ken Raisanen of WOAS-FM 91.5 – information provided by <\/span>Abrams Planetarium Sky Calendar<\/span><\/i>, Michigan State University.\u00a0 More information and subscription information can be found on their website at <\/span>http:\/\/abramsplanetarium.org\/<\/span><\/a>skycalendar\/<\/span>.\u00a0 Yearly subscriptions cost $12 and can be started anytime. Comments and questions can be emailed to kraisanen@oasd.k12.mi.us<\/span><\/p>\n

Top Piece Video:\u00a0 Seals & Croft from\u00a0The Old Grey Whistle Test\u00a0<\/em>on BBC in 1975<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0By mid-August, we will be halfway between the Summer Solstice and Autumnal Equinox.\u00a0 The hours of the day will be decreasing toward the 12 hours of daylight \/ 12 hours of darkness that marks the Equinox (translated as \u2018Equal Night\u2019).\u00a0 On the plus side, the land and water of the northern hemisphere have now absorbed […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11,8,9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3612","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-education","category-from-the-vaults","category-woas"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3612","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3612"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3612\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3615,"href":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3612\/revisions\/3615"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3612"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3612"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3612"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}