August 7, 2004
Astronomy Note for August
Ever seen a "Half-Venus"? For those you guys who are reeeally early risers, a spectacularly bright Venus is visible about 3.5 hours before dawn.
All the more interesting is that it is only a half-Venus. Saturn is also visible a couple hours before dawn. Venus and Saturn will approach each other as the month goes on.
In the evening sky, Mercury is visible, dimly, just after sunset until mid-August. Then it will shoot behind the sun and reappear in the morning sky in September.
Also in the evening dusk are Mars and a very bright Jupiter. Mars is at a point almost opposite last August, when it was historically close to earth, so it is much dimmer now.
At about midnight, straight up in the sky, Uranus and Neptune are both visible, but you will probably need a chart or familiarity with the sky to pick them out.
Lastly, there is the Perseid Meteor Shower peaking in the early (2am AZ time) hours of Thursday, 12 August. This might reach 100 per hour.