See Mercury Rising And Uranus In Reverse: What To See In The Night Sky This Week

Science See Mercury Rising And Uranus In Reverse: What To See In The Night Sky This Week Jamie Carter Senior Contributor Opinions expressed by Forbes Contributors are their own. I inspire people to go stargazing, watch the Moon, enjoy the night sky New! Follow this author to stay notified about their latest stories. Got it! Aug 21, 2022, 08:00pm EDT | Share to Facebook Share to Twitter Share to Linkedin This week is ideal for stargazing and learning a few constellations.

getty Each Monday I pick out the northern hemisphere’s celestial highlights (mid-northern latitudes) for the week ahead, but be sure to check my main feed for more in-depth articles on stargazing, astronomy, eclipses and more. What To Watch For In The Night Sky This Week: August 22-28, 2022 This week is both one of the most important of the year for stargazers while simultaneously being nothing to write home about. The Moon is waning towards its New Moon phase this week, leaving sky is completely dark and ideal for picking out bright stars and constellations.

However, there are no meteor showers, no views of the Moon close to stars and planets, and no particularly bright planets to get excited about (aside from Saturn, which continues to shine brightly in the post-sunset sky). So my advice is to get outside each clear evening this week, sit in the lawn chair, and try to identify one of these five constellations that can only be seen during summer. You can do them in any order, and if it’s cloudy for four nights, then you can find all five on any clear night this week.

Let’s go summer stargazing! The Summer Triangle and meteors photographed on August 12, 2021, from Gruenstadt in Germany. getty MORE FOR YOU New Research Finds A Connection Between Domestic Violence And These Two Personality Disorders This Scientist Helps Andean Forests And Ecuador’s Women In STEM Exceptional Fossil Preservation Suggests That Discovering Dinosaur DNA May Not Be Impossible Monday, August 22, 2022: The Summer Triangle Rising in the east after dark and overhead around midnight by July and August, the Summer Triangle is one of the anchors of the summer night sky. Comprising Deneb in Cygnus (top left), bright Vega in Lyra (top right) and Altair in Aquila (bottom, center), from a really dark sky you’ll be able to see the Milky Way streaming through the Summer Triangle.

Specifically it flows behind Deneb and Altair. The Delphinus (Dolphin) constellation with Milky Way. getty Tuesday, August 23, 2022: Delphinus, ‘The Dolphin’ and Sagitta, ‘The Arrow’ Now you can use your knowledge of the Summer Triangle to find smaller shapes around it.

To the left of a line between Deneb and Altair is the sparkling small constellation of Delphinus, “The Dolphin” while just above Altair is tiny Sagitta “The Arrow. ” Corona Borealis star constellation – also known as the “Northern Crown. ” getty Wednesday, August 24, 2022: Corona Borealis It’s one of the most beautiful constellations going, but few people can find Corona Borealis—the “Northern Crown.

” High in the night sky at this time of year, this semi-circle curve of seven stars is sandwiched between the constellations of Boötes and Hercules. The easiest way to find it is first to locate bright star Vega in the northeastern sky, and then find red Arcturus high above. Corona Borealis is about half-way between the two.

An artists depiction of the constellation Scorpio the Scorpion. The constellation includes several . .

. [+] star clusters including the Butterfly Cluster and the star Antares. Scorpio is one of the twelve astrological signs of the Zodiac.

Getty Thursday, August 25, 2022: Scorpius From mid-northern latitudes only the tail of this famous constellation is visible, but with a clear view to the south you will easily see the red supergiant star Antares. Like Betelgeuse , Antares could go supernova at any time. This ruddy star’s name means the “rival of Mars” because the red planet passes close by every two years on its 687 (Earth) days orbit of the Sun.

Put your binoculars just to the right of Antares and you’ll see the M4 globular cluster of 1,000+ stars. Sagittarius Constellation. Zodiac Sign Sagittarius constellation lines Getty Friday, August 26, 2022: Sagittarius The constellation of Sagittarius, the Archer, hangs over the immensely dense star fields of the Milky Way galaxy.

It’s also over the galaxy’s center, so stare at Sagittarius and you’re looking at galactic central point. The key sight here isn’t the shape of the archer—which is pretty hard to see—but that of the “Teapot. ” Look south in the evening hours to the left of last month’s target constellation, Scorpius.

Saturday, August 27, 2022: Mercury rising and a New Moon Stellarium Saturday, August 27, 2022: Mercury rising and a New Moon This weekend sees Mercury at its greatest eastern elongation, which means it will be as high as it gets above the western horizon immediately after sunset. You may need binoculars to see it low due west—and you’ll see bright star Spica, in Virgo, to its upper-left in the southwestern sky. Today is also a New Moon, when our satellite is roughly between Earth and the Sun, so lost in its glare and invisible to us.

Natural satellite of Uranus, Uranus has at least 27 satellites: five outer moons, 11 small internal . . .

[+] moons, which were discovered by the Voyager 2 probe in 1986, and 11 recently discovered moons since 1997. (Photo by: QAI Publishing/Universal Images Group via Getty Images) Universal Images Group via Getty Images Object of the week: Uranus in retrograde Uranus will this week appear to begin going backwards. This so-called “retrograde motion” will continue for many weeks but it it, of course, an illusion.

Just as a car appears to go backwards if you speed past it in your own car, so too the slower-moving outer planets appear to go backwards as Earth speeds around the inner solar system. Wishing you clear skies and wide eyes. Follow me on Twitter or LinkedIn .

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