Dining & Nightlife | Astronomy

In space history, August seems to be the month of Mars. For instance, on August 27, 2003, at 5:51am, Eastern Standard Time, Mars was 34,646,418 miles from Earth; this was the closest the red planet had been to Earth in 60,000 years! One day later, Mars was at opposition, directly opposite the Sun (and thus maximally illuminated), when seen from the perspective of Earth. Then, as now, stories suggesting that Mars would be as large as the Moon circulated on the Internet; however, even during the planet’s close approach in 2003, Mars appeared to the naked eye as nothing more than a bright, orange star with details only to be revealed by a powerful telescope.

The Viking I Mars orbiter powered down on August 17, 1980 after 1,400 trips around the red planet. Everyone has seen the “face on Mars,” the most famous image captured by the spacecraft.

Also in August, August 9, 1973, to be precise, the USSR launched the Mars 7 interplanetary lander, which consisted of a fly-by bus and a descent module. The descent module was designed to perform in-situ studies of the Martian atmosphere and surface; it was even equipped for soil activation experiments. Sorrowfully enough, a malfunction caused the lander to miss the red planet. It is sobering to consider that the Mars 7 interplanetary lander preceded the Martian rovers Spirit and Opportunity by several decades.

Most of the planets will be on display this August. Mercury, Venus, Mars and Saturn will be visible in the early evening, just after sunset. Later in the evening, Jupiter, Uranus, Neptune and even Pluto—the “no longer a planet” planet—will grace the skies. There will even be a triple conjunction on August 13; look west just after sunset to see Venus, Mars and Saturn riding near the crescent Moon. Neptune will reach opposition on August 20.

Finally, after observing the conjunction, sit down, relax and take in nature’s fireworks—the Perseids. The Perseids reach their peak between August 12th and 13th, but meteors may be seen from July 25th through August 22nd. The crescent Moon will be down early, bringing dark skies and great viewing. Best viewing is towards the northeast after midnight.