For the advanced, you can watch the Lagoon Nebula - a star formation area in the Sagittarius constellation - throughout the month
As usual every year, in the month of August, astronomy enthusiasts prepare for nights of meteors. The 2024 Perseid shower will peak between August 11 and 13. Forecasters expect the exact peak to occur on August 12 at 14:00 UTC, so the nights of August 11, 12 and 13 are the best time to view this meteor.
The Perseid Meter is known for being able to display a rate of up to 100 meteors per hour under ideal conditions. In 2024, the moon will be in its waning crescent phase, which will cause little interference with the meteors, and will set around 23:30 p.m. local time, so the hours after midnight until dawn will be the best viewing times. To enjoy optimal viewing, you should find a dark place, away from the city lights.
The Perseids come from the constellation Perseus, so the gaze should be directed towards the northeast. The Perseid shower is caused by the remnants of Comet 109P/Swift-Tuttle, which moves in a 133-year orbit around the Sun. It made its last approach to the Sun in 1992, and its next transit will occur in 2126.
To watch the meteors you just have to lie on your back, direct your eyes to the sky and wait. You can also listen for meteors by tuning a radio to an empty FM frequency and hearing the pings of the meteors. NASA also recommends reporting the amount of meteors seen at a given time to the International Meteorological Organization (IMO).
Planetary constellations
During the month of August, the red planet, Mars, moves quickly past our solar system's largest planet, Jupiter, in the pre-dawn sky. The closest approach is expected on August 14, when they will appear about a third of a degree of arc apart, less than the width of the full moon.
Mars moves rapidly away from Jupiter over the next few mornings, but on the 27th the crescent moon joins the two stars to form a fascinating trio in the pre-dawn sky.
Illustrated sky chart showing the morning sky facing east, one hour before sunrise on August 27, 2024. The crescent moon in the center, surrounded by bright stars and planets. Jupiter and Mars are shown as small white dots, with Jupiter to the immediate right of the Moon and Mars below the Moon. Jupiter appears larger than Mars, indicating its greater brightness.
Saturn is on its own for most of the month on the other side of the sky, although the Moon is in close pursuit of The Lord of the Rings on August 20. The two rise shortly after sunset and move westward together until sunrise.
All the stars in the sky share a common source in huge clouds of gas and dust called nebulae. And one of these star nebulae, the Lagoon Nebula, is well-placed for viewing in the August sky.
An illustrated sky chart shows the night sky facing south around 21:30 pm in August. The location of the Lagoon Nebula is circled below the center. Below and to the right is a group of scorpions, and to the left of it is the pattern called the kettle.
The Lagoon Nebula will look familiar if you've ever seen the Orion Nebula when the latter was a little brighter. Its size is about three times the width of the full moon, it is still relatively easy to find, even under the sky outside cities, using binoculars or a small telescope.
The Lagoon Nebula is located in the Sagittarius group, which seasoned skywatchers will know is associated with the bright band of the Milky Way's nucleus. You can find it here, just above the top of the star pattern called the kettle.
The nebula is located about 4,000 light years from us. Its elliptical structure is about 100 light-years long and about 50 light-years wide. This is an intense star-forming region, with many young stars shining brightly, causing the surrounding gas to glow. This glow is dull and colorless when viewing the lagoon nebula through binoculars, but long exposure photos reveal its colorful nature. The bright stars also sculpt the nebula, creating voids and streams of gas. The nebula gets its name from one of these dense, dark gas clouds that stretch across it, and look like a sort of watery lagoon. During the month of August it will be in the southern part of the sky for Israeli observers
The Lagoon Nebula appears high overhead in August to those in the Southern Hemisphere, and quite low to those in the high northern latitudes, but it is visible across the continental United States. If you can find the stars in the teapot pattern, you can also observe the nebula. To find it, follow a line due west, twice the distance from the top of the kettle's handle to the top of its lid.
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Comments
There are details on the Israel Space Agency website. You don't need a telescope to watch the meteors, but there will surely be some that will be brought to allow the other viewers to watch other astronomical phenomena.
Do you have any recommendations for a good place to see?
And do you need a telescope?