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 22-29, 2021
This week is all about the coming “Blue Moon.”
Since it’s the third of four full Moons this summer season, it’s technically termed a “Blue Moon” by astronomers, but as you’ll see, it will turn from orange to yellow, not blue, as it rises into the night sky.
Sunday, August 22, 2021: A full ‘Blue Moon’ and Jupiter
Stellarium
Sunday, August 22, 2021: A full ‘Blue Moon’ and Jupiter
This month there are two successive nights when you should look for the full “Blue Moon” rising.
Your first opportunity comes tonight at dusk; find a low easterly horizon and you’ll see a “Blue Moon” appear draped in deep orange hues. Look about 4° above and you’ll see the bright planet Jupiter, with Saturn further to the southeast.
Monday, August 23, 2021: A full ‘Blue Moon’
Stellarium
Monday, August 23, 2021: A full ‘Blue Moon’
Here’s another chance to see, at dusk and in the east, the exquisite sight of a rising full Moon. It will appear to be just about as full as yesterday night.
Tuesday, August 24, 2021: See Earth from orbit
Beginning at 8 a.m. EDT this morning is a spacewalk at the International Space Station (ISS), which will be screened live on NASA TV on YouTube.
NASA astronaut Mark Vande Hei and JAXA astronaut Akihiko Hoshide will spend 6.5 hours installing hardware to support more solar panels.
The SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket carrying the Dragon cargo capsule lifts off from Launch Complex 39A at ... [+]
NASA/Tony Gray & Kevin O'Connell
Saturday, August 28, 2021: Watch a rocket launch
SpaceX will today, at 3:37 a.m. EDT, launch a regular resupply mission to the ISS. A reusable Falcon 9 rocket will launch a Dragon cargo capsule from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
It will be SpaceX’s 23rd such mission. Watch it on the SpaceX live channel on YouTube.
Star-hop of the week: Go ‘Arc to Arcturus’ from the Big Dipper
Stellarium
Star-hop of the week: Go ‘Arc to Arcturus’ from the Big Dipper
See the legendary Arcturus—the bright reddish star and the brightest star in the northern hemisphere’s summer night sky—in the constellation of Boötes.
Try the famous star-hop: begin from the curve of the handle of stars in the Big Dipper/Plough/Saucepan high above you, and go “arc to Arcturus.”
Object of the week: the full Moon
Watch the rising of the “Blue Moon” this week and you’ll notice that, well, it’s definitely not blue! As it rises in the east it will look orange, turning to a pale yellow as it rises higher into the sky, before appearing a bright, whitish-grey.
Crowds look on as the super moon rises behind the Fremantle War Memorial at Monument Hill on ... [+]
Getty Images
Why? Rayleigh scattering! Earth’s atmosphere contains oxygen and nitrogen molecules that absorb some wavelengths of light more effectively than others.
Colors in the sun's light with short wavelengths, such as blue, strike more particles and are therefore more easily absorbed. They scatter more easily, which is why the sky is blue during the day. Colors with longer wavelengths, such orange, more easily pass through the atmosphere uninhibited.
When you look at moonrise you're looking across the planet so you’re looking through a lot of atmosphere. Rayleigh scattering is intensified, with orange dominating the light that makes it to your eyes.
Wishing you clear skies and wide eyes.
#News | https://sciencespies.com/news/a-blue-moon-with-jupiter-and-summers-brightest-star-what-you-can-see-in-the-night-sky-this-week/
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