Count, you can see a few Perseid meteors in August
The sky has known
Watching Venus in the morning and meteors in the evening, the coming August will be super exciting. Jupiter and Saturn in the first half of the night, and Mars in the second half of the night will attract everyone's attention. If you are lucky enough, you can still see Mercury around -0.8 at dawn at the beginning of the month.
"Old Friends" Great Perseids Meteor Shower
Best time to observe: August 12
Recommendation index: ★★★★☆
Observation difficulty: ★★★☆☆
The Perseid meteor shower is one of the most stable meteor showers in the northern hemisphere. It is also the most important celestial feast during the summer vacation. Its radiant point is located in the Perseus sky area, the representative constellation of the autumn night starry sky, and its active period is from July 17 to August 24 each year. In mid-August when the maximum appears, the radiant point will rise to a relatively ideal height around 22:00. For a meteor shower, the higher the horizontal height of the radiant point, the more meteors we can see theoretically, so it is also a meteor shower with better observation conditions in the latter half of the night.
Due to the large flow, people have a long history of observation and research on the Perseid meteor shower, so it can be regarded as one of the meteor showers we know more about. This year's meteor shower is expected to be extremely large from 21:00 to 24:00 on August 12, Beijing time, which is more suitable for observation in eastern my country. Moreover, the day is the last quarter of the moon, and the moonlight will only be affected in the middle of the night, so the observation conditions are ideal.
Here is a "vaccination shot" for everyone. Even a large-flow meteor shower like the Perseid meteor shower may still disappoint people. For this meteor shower, during the extreme period we can see dozens of meteors in the Persian group every hour, which is quite good. Sometimes you won’t see meteors for several minutes, which is normal. Observing meteor showers is to find a place far away from urban light pollution and with better atmospheric transparency. In mid-August, the night in the outskirts of northern my country has been chilly. You must prepare long-sleeved trousers to keep you warm and prevent mosquito bites.
Early morning low east Venus distance to the west
Best time to observe: August 13
Recommendation index: ★★★★☆
Observation difficulty: ★★☆☆☆
Venus is relatively easy to be observed among the planets in the earth. At large distances, the angular distance between it and the sun can reach 46° to 48°, and the distance from the earth is about 100 million kilometers. In addition, the surface of Venus is covered by a dense atmosphere, and the albedo is as high as 78%, which is the highest of all planets. Therefore, the Venus we see is very bright, and it is very common for the apparent magnitude to be above -4. In various records, Venus is a very important celestial body. In ancient my country, it was called Taibai Venus. In addition, comets have many nicknames. Venus that appears in the east in the early morning is called Venus, and Venus that appears in the west in the evening is called Chang Gung.
Venus reached the Western Great Distance on August 13, and in mid-July, it had reached its brightest brightness on the west side of the sun this time. During this time, the brightness decreased slightly, but it could also reach -4.4 and so on. The Venus at the western latitude appears in the low east sky in the early morning. It is not difficult to find it with the naked eye, but now the sunrise is earlier, and you need to get up as early as possible if you want to see Venus.
Jupiter and Saturn stage double stars with moon
Best time to observe: August 29
Recommendation index: ★★★☆☆
Observation difficulty: ★★☆☆☆
In August, the observational conditions of several extraterrestrial planets visible to the naked eye were good. Among them, Jupiter and Saturn just opposed the sun in July, and now their rising time is further advanced. And the angular distance between the two is relatively small, only about 5°. Among them, Jupiter's apparent magnitude can reach -2.7 magnitude, while Saturn is much darker, only about 0.7 magnitude. On the evening of August 29, a bright moon will arrive near the sky area where Jupiter and Saturn are located, and a double star with moon will be staged.
Another important exoplanet, Mars, will be in opposition in October, and its observation conditions will get better in August. Mars only has a relatively good time for observation every two years and three months. On the evening of August 9th, Mars and Moon will be staged.
(Li Xin is an associate researcher at the Beijing Planetarium)