Backyard Stargazer – August 2018
By Francis Parnell
If you love to watch meteor showers, August has one of the best – the Perseid Meteor Shower.
On the night of the 12th/early morning of the 13th, and appearing to radiate from the constellation of PERSEUS, the Perseids peak with an average of 80 to 90 meteors per hour for an observer under dark skies. Perseus rises in the northeast around 10 p.m. With no bright Moon to interfere, start watching about 11 p.m. The Perseids enter the atmosphere at 134,000 mph, so scan the sky in all directions. You never know where you’ll see a bright meteor flashing across the sky.

Francis Parnell, the Backyard Stargazer of Darlington
The Perseids are the debris of Comet Swift-Tuttle. The comet was discovered in 1862 by Lewis Swift in NY, and Horace Parnell Tuttle at Harvard Observatory. With an orbital period of 133 years, it last paid us a visit in 1992, and will return in 2126.
The thin crescent Moon is about 10-degrees right of brilliant Venus at dusk on the 13th and 7-degrees above Venus on the 14th.
On the 16th at dusk, find the Moon 7-degrees to the right or upper right of bright yellow Jupiter in LIBRA. Jupiter is only one-half degree (a Moon width) away from “Zubenelgenubi”, the Alpha star in Libra. Neat binocular view!
Looking west, Venus reaches Greatest Elongation, 46-degrees east of the Sun on the 17th. In a telescope, the phase has the appearance of the first quarter Moon.
At sunset on the 20th, find the waxing gibbous Moon 4-degrees upper right of golden Saturn in SAGITTARIUS.
On the 22nd, look for a fat gibbous Moon about 9-degrees upper right of blazing Red Mars. Spot the Moon about 8-degrees upper left of Mars on the 23rd.
At dusk on the 31st, find Venus just 1-degree away from “Spica”, the brightest star in VIRGO. Use binoculars.
FAST FACT: The Moon recedes from Earth by 1.5-inches per year. Eventually, there will be no total solar eclipses.
Francis Parnell of Darlington has been an amateur astronomer for nearly 50 years. He was on the staff and helped out at the Francis Marion University Observatory from 1982 until 2006 by showing visitors “what’s out there.” With the help of a friend, Mr. Ernest Lowry, he built his own telescope in 1986. And, because of light pollution, for the last 31 years he has been advocating for the advantages of using fully-shielded lighting at night.