For you early morning or late night runners/walkers -- Lake Grapevine Runners And Walkers

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Date Posted: 15:18:44 08/14/03 Thu
Author: Lee Miller
Subject: For you early morning or late night runners/walkers

Magical Night Sky Week: Mars, Full Moon and Shooting Stars
Tue Aug 12, 8:34 AM ET Add Science - Space.com to My Yahoo!

By Robert Roy Britt
Senior Science Writer, SPACE.com

Perhaps the United Nations (news - web sites) should have declared this International Doorstep Astronomy Week. No matter how little you know about the night sky, this is a remarkable week to go out and look up, regardless of where you live.

An enchantingly bright Mars and the reliably interesting Moon will be near each other in the late night and early morning sky Monday night through Thursday morning.

The pairing comes just as Mars is on the verge of its biggest and brightest performance ever. It also offers an opportunity for even totally inexperienced skywatchers to make an exciting daytime planet sighting.

Meanwhile, patient observers could spot a bright fireball as ancient comet fragments are scheduled to hurtle through Earth's atmosphere.

All this with no equipment required. City lights are not an issue.

The Moon will be full Tuesday, Aug. 12 and will appear nearly full Monday night right on into Wednesday morning. Mars is now a blazing orange "star" that rises in the late evening and is high in the southern sky throughout the early morning hours. You cannot miss it.

Catch a shooting star

The annual Perseid meteor shower peaks overnight Tuesday into Wednesday morning.

In fact, the sky is too crowded in a sense. The full Moon will outshine fainter shooting stars, leaving only the brightest Perseids visible.

Most meteors are the size of sand grains. They vaporize and produce streaks of light as they plow into denser air. However, a handful of Perseids are larger, up to pea size, and can produce brilliant fireballs that are visible regardless of the Moon.

The Perseids are caused by debris left behind on several orbits of the comet Swift-Tuttle.

Meteors must be viewed with the naked eye. They move too quickly for binoculars or telescopes to be useful. Just lie back on a lounge chair or blanket -- to avoid neck strain -- and look up. Keep your eyes glued to as wide a region of the sky as possible, in an area away from the Moon. Using a tall building, mountain or tree to block the full Moon can improve your prospects slightly.

The best time to see Perseid meteors is during the last hours before dawn, when planet Earth rushes headlong into the cosmic debris stream and scoops the stuff up on the leading edge of the planet.

Its the same as a car's front bumper ornament being slapped by more bugs than a rear bumper.

The main event

For many backyard astronomers, Mars is the only show in town right now.

The red planet outshines everything in the night sky except the Moon. Only Venus can be brighter among planets and stars, and it is not visible right now.

Mars' reaches peak brilliance later in the month. On Aug. 27, it will be closer to Earth than ever in nearly 60,000 years, an historical event first reported by SPACE.com last November.

Mars and the Moon will rise nearly together, roughly around 9 or 9:30 p.m. local time, on several nights this week. They come up in the southeast and will roughly maintain their relative positions as they soar into the southern sky overnight.

By dawn, they'll be settling into the southwest. Exact moon and sun rise and set times for your location are available at the U.S. Naval Observatory Web site.

The details

Monday Night: The Moon rises around 8:22 local time. Mars follows about an hour later, then remains well below and to the left of the Moon into the night as the move up and into the southern sky.
Tuesday Morning: The pair slide high into the southern sky, then toward dawn they drift lower and to the southwest, with Mars now well above and to the left of the Moon. The Moon sets as day breaks while Mars stays above the horizon and gradually pales.
Tuesday Night: Mars rises just below and to the left of the Moon, which comes up about 8:55 local time. They are so close you can probably block both out with your fist on an extended arm. Those with a clear view of the horizon can see them easily by 9:30, others may have to wait a bit.
Wednesday Morning: Again both are high in the south in the wee hours of the morning, Mars at the Moon's left. As dawn takes over, the duo has sunk toward the southwest but remain well above the horizon.
Wednesday Night: Almost a repeat of Tuesday night, except now Mars is slightly above and to the right of the Moon, which comes up at about 9:23 local time. Look for Mars a bit earlier if you have a clear view of the horizon.
Thursday Morning: Mars and the Moon lift high into the southern sky, nearly duplicating the previous night's dance but having swapped sides. By 1 a.m. Mars has dropped slightly below the Moon in the sky and is off to its right. Mars shifts even more underneath the Moon toward dawn, with both still well up in the sky as the Sun takes over.
See Mars during the day

The pairing present a neat opportunity to make a daytime planet sighting. Yes, daytime.

Mars is so bright it is visible to the naked eye after sunrise. The trick is keeping your eye on it as dawn's early light grows. Having the Moon as a giant locator beacon helps. If you lose track of Mars, just reorient via the Moon (which also remains visible during the day).

Tree branches and power lines can come in handy for daytime planet hunting, too. And if you have big windows facing south, you don't even have to breathe fresh air to do this.

The Sturgeon Moon

As with any full Moon, the one this month goes by several names. The August full Moon is one of the oddest: Sturgeon. That's a fish. It's also referred to by the more fathomable Green Corn Moon or Grain Moon.

We see the Moon because it reflects sunlight, and this week the Moon is on the opposite side of the Earth from the Sun. This creates a complete circular disk of reflection -- a full Moon. Along with a map, it offers a chance to identify all the major features of the Moon.

Some of the best Moon gazing is done when the orb it not fully lit, however.

At the dividing border between dark and lit regions -- a fuzzy area called the terminator -- strong shadows are cast into lunar craters and onto the surface around them. Later in the week there will be an obvious crescent of darkness eating into the Moon.

The best way to begin exploring the Moon is with the naked eye, a pair of binoculars, and a printed map. Save the telescope for after you've learned a few basic features. First learn the names of a few major craters and the vast plains called maria, after the Latin word "mare," which means sea.

Say "cheese"

Mars is a tougher target.

To the naked eye the red planet appears as a bright star. Good binoculars or a small telescope will reveal it as a featureless disk, rather than just a point of light. A good-sized backyard telescope -- about 4 inches or bigger -- is needed to bring out surface features of the red planet.

This is the best year of your life to try your hand at photographing Mars. Digital cameras hand-held up to a telescope eyepiece are a fun way to take your first crack at what can become an addictive pastime. If you try, by all means shoot the Moon, too.

Mars will be an intriguing target well into the fall. But this is a week that even the most casual skywatcher should stay up late, or set the alarm early, and explore the solar system while its practically at your doorstep.

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