Photo of the Week. Continuous lightning from a
magnificent storm at sea illuminates both the clouds and water,
while a powerful bolt connects the Earth with the sky. (Image by
Bruce Kaler. The first of a set of three.)
Astronomy news for the week starting Friday, August 18, 2006.
The Moon, beginning the week as a waning crescent visible in early
morning skies, passes through its new phase on Wednesday, August
23, whereupon it flips to the other side of the Sun to become a waxing crescent, but one that will
be only barely visible in bright western twilight the night of
Thursday the 24th. To admire the growing crescent we will have to
wait until the week beginning the 25th.
The morning waning crescent, its nighttime side aglow with Earthlight
, gives a better show. Look the morning of Monday the 21st to
see the slimming crescent standing between Gemini's Castor and Pollux above it and still-brilliant
Venus
below it (the planet not rising until nearly 5 AM). The following
morning, the Moon will have dropped down and to the left of Venus.
Look then for Saturn
down and to the right of the Moon as the ringed planet now
begins to clear the Sun. At the bottom, below the crescent, will
be
Mercury. On the evening side, the waxing crescent passes Mars
during the day of Friday the 25th.
Pay no attention to the two-year-old message making the rounds
about the August hugeness and brilliance of Mars. The red
planet is effectively invisible as it rounds to the other side of
the Sun heading for
conjunction next October 23. It's still
Jupiter that dominates the evening sky. Easily visible in the
southwest after sundown, the giant planet does not set until 11 PM
Daylight Time.
Look just to the left of Jupiter to find Alpha
Librae, affectionately better known as Zubenelgenubi. Farther to the left
is great Antares in Scorpius. Above the scorpion lies one
of the largest of constellations, Ophiuchus, the Serpent Bearer, around whom is wrapped
the Serpent itself, the constellation Serpens, the only one to come in two parts: Serpens Caput (the
Serpens Head) to the west of Ophiuchus, Serpens Cauda (the Tail) to
the east.
