Venus in the eastern morning sky – 5 AM Aug 1, 2017. Credit: Stellarium / Bob Trembley.Venus is still high in the eastern morning sky; the constellation Orion appears a bit higher each morning.
Waxing gibbous Moon, Saturn and Jupiter in the south-southwest sky after sunset – Aug. 1, 2017. Credit: Stellarium / Bob Trembley.The southern sky is filled with objects this week: the waxing gibbous Moon accompanies Jupiter and Saturn for several days.
Conjunction in the southern sky after sunset – Aug. 2, 2017. Credit: Stellarium / Bob Trembley.The Moon will appear very close to Saturn on the evening on August 2nd.
Constellation Cetus in the southeast morning sky. Credit: Stellarium / Bob Trembley.The constellation Cetus appears in the predawn sky to the southeast.
Constellation Cetus Artwork. Credit: Stellarium / Bob Trembley.Cetus is depicted as a sea monster in Greek mythology, but is often referred to as “the whale” today.
Stellarium can show constellation lines from the H.A. Rey’s book “The Stars.” Credit: Stellarium / Bob Trembley.I know several astronomers who had a copy of H.A. Rey’s “The Stars: A New Way to See Them” when they were young – I still have my copy! I was overjoyed to see that Stellarium has a starlore set depicting constellations as drawn by H.A. Rey in his book.
H. A. Rey’s version of the constellation Cetus. Credit: Stellarium / Bob Trembley.The constellation Cetus in Stellarium as drawn by H.A. Rey in his book “The Stars: A New Way to See Them.”
The sky overhead – Aug 1, 2017 11 PM. Credit: Stellarium / Bob Trembley.The sky overhead – Aug 1, 2017 11:00 PM
The Solar System – Aug 1, 2017. Credit: NASA Eyes on the Solar System / Bob Trembley.The Solar System – Aug 1, 2017.
Mars is currently on the opposite side of the Sun from Earth – Aug 1, 2017. Credit: NASA Eyes on the Solar System / Bob Trembley.Mars is not visible in the sky right now because it is on the opposite side of the Sun from the Earth. Mars will reappear in the eastern predawn sky in mid-September.
Eastern morning sky from Perth – 5 AM Aug 1, 2017. Credit: Stellarium / Bob Trembley.I live in Michigan at 42° N latitude; almost 90% of all humans live in the northern hemisphere, so these “In the sky” posts are apply to most of the human population. I was asked by a friend if I ever posted anything about southern hemisphere skies. “No” I replied, “But I should…” So…
The skies of the southern hemisphere look quite different than those of the northern hemisphere, and offers some spectacular objects for observers. Some familiar constellations like: Orion, Taurus and others nearer the horizon are visible, but appear upside-down, as does the Moon!
The sky overhead from Perth. Credit: Stellarium / Bob Trembley.Farther from the horizon, and more toward southern latitudes, are constellations and objects that northern hemisphere observers will never be able to see – and I’ve been told some of them are “bucket-list” material.
Apps used for this post:
Stellarium: a free open source planetarium app for PC/MAC/Linux.
NASA Eyes on the Solar System: an immersive 3D solar system and space mission app – free for the PC /MAC.
