Ladd Skies Weekly: August 20, 2024

Ladd Skies Weekly: August 20, 2024

We really haven’t been very fortunate with respect to evening skies,

but please keep looking, just in case.

Mercury begins another morning appearance. This one, however, is

destined to be the best of the year. Having passed through its

inferior conjunction - traveling between us and the Sun - it will be

visible a half hour before sunrise this week, and will slowly be

rising earlier as the month continues.

Venus is in the evening sky, but still not in its best appearance yet.

It sets about an hour after sunset, but will become a better sight as

time goes on.

Mars and Jupiter are very close to each other, within a binocular

field of view, although Mars is moving away, east of Jupiter. They

are both above the horizon soon after midnight. Look for Mars to be

just a degree north of the Crab Nebula, M1, Monday.

Saturn is above the horizon just after 8:00 P.M., so it should be easy

to locate in the sky.

As the full Sturgeon Moon occurred yesterday, this week the Moon will

be in its waning gibbous phase, reaching last quarter Monday. Look

for it Tuesday within ½ degree of Saturn, and very close to the

beautiful open star cluster the Pleiades, M45, Sunday.

This morning’s sunrise was the last 6:00 A.M. one to occur until next

April 19th.

Lately, we’ve been introducing the beautiful constellation Scorpius: its appearance in the sky, its bright heart star, Antares, and one of its stars, Delta, forming the claws. Now, let’s turn to the animal’s stinger. Have any readers had a pet rabbit, or at least watched one hop away on soft sand? If so, you may notice the pattern its paws make. Our ancestors noted this, and referred to this as Rabbit Tracks which, to them, was the same shape as the stars that made up Scorpius’s stinger. It also was a sign of the planting season. When the rabbit tracks first rose out of the southeastern horizon, it was time to plant; when it was in the south, the crops were at their best; and, when the weather became cooler, and the tracks were ready to set, then it was harvest time.

Yes, we are still hoping to look up soon and see a bright, “new” star

within the constellation Corona Borealis. So far, it has not been

brightening, but many are still hoping. Just look to the left, east,

of the tiara shape of the constellation, and there will be the very

area housing what is now the very dim T Coronae Borealis.. Please

keep looking up, and let us all know whether you do see it

brightening, as it will be visible for just a few evenings...

Recently, we introduced part of the amazing life of Caroline

Herschel,, William’s sister. William also had a son, John, who was as

great an astronomer as both his dad and his aunt; however, his

reputation almost got derailed in 1835, when on August 25 the

newspaper the New York Sun published the first in a set of six

articles concerning the “discoveries” John Herschel was finding at his

observing site in Cape Town, South Africa. Called the Great Moon

Hoax, it had Herschel using a telescope that was so powerful that he

was able to observe lifeforms on the Moon, including unicorns,

two-legged beavers, and bat-shaped, winged humanoids. Allegedly

written by Dr. Andrew Grant, a fake “friend” of Herschel, he continued

for five other “discoveries” Herschel saw on the Moon’s surface.

Herschel was totally unaware of this until an associate of his visited

him and asked about these marvels he was witnessing. It took weeks

before the Sun finally admitted the entire series was a hoax.

Sometimes, it seems hard to believe that certain discoveries are so

new. A perfect example: Up until 1977, only one planet, Saturn, was

known to be surrounded by a ring system. And, then, in March, 1977,

Uranus was found to have a ring system, of course, nowhere near as

beautiful as Saturn’s. This discovery did lead to speculation that

perhaps there could be more planetary ring systems. By chance, the

two Voyager spacecraft were going to Jupiter, and they were both

programmed to look for material around Jupiter, as none could be

viewed from here. Two years later, in 1979, the four very slim rings

surrounding our giant planet were seen by both Voyager 1 and 2. Of

course, what this meant was that three of the outer planets were now

known to have rings. Could the last, and furthest outer planet, also

have them? It was Voyager 2 that traveled to Neptune, to first

glimpse what was at first designated “ring arcs,” pieces of

noncontinuous rings. However, on August 22, 1989, Voyager 2 took the

first image of a faint, continuous ring system. These rings, unlike

those of the other planets, aren’t entirely even in their composition;

they seemed almost to be slight clumps in their makeup. Of course,

despite what we now know about our solar system’s planetary ring

systems, still, none are anywhere near the beauty of those belonging

to Saturn.

We’ve had many craft travel to Mars and successfully orbit or land on

the surface. Unfortunately, though, there have been some that haven’t

been so successful. One of them was the Mars Observer. Launched

after a 17-year gap since the previous Mars craft, Mars Observer left

Earth on September 25, 1992, It carried an incredible array of

instruments, designed to learn much of the planet’s climate and

geology. However, on August 22, 1993, the craft went silent shortly

before it was to enter planetary orbit. Engineers and mission control

staff attempted to regain communication, but it was to no avail. The

loss of what was a very expensive spacecraft began the push for the

“faster, better, cheaper” set of craft. It has continued to this day.

We’re sure there are many of you who traveled to witness the April 8, 2024 total solar eclipse that was visible from over a dozen states, Mexico, and parts of Canada. However, this was the second total solar eclipse path to do so in seven years. The August 21, 2017 eclipse path also passed through many states, beginning in Oregon, finally ending in the Atlantic Ocean. Like 2024, although there were millions fortunate to live on the Path of totality, millions of others went to sites where they could view this amazing event. Although it is known that total solar eclipses do occur approximately yearly, the next one visible in the continental U.S. will be in 2044, but it will only make it through three states. On August 12, 2045, however, we will have a longer path of totality. We will have to travel a bit, though, as it will be more toward our southern states. With the weather turning a bit cooler, hopefully you will be able to go outside and see however much of the sky is available to us.

Francine Jackson,

Staff Astronomer

Ladd Observatory

Department of Physics

Brown University