This Week’s Sky at a Glance, 2024 August 24 – August 31
This Week’s Sky at a Glance, 2024 August 24 – August 31
The Summer Triangle is at its highest in early evening. Vega pokes through the twilight overhead, followed by Altair to the south and Deneb to the east. All three are the brightest stars of their respective constellations of Lyra, Aquila and Cygnus. Although it is the dimmest of the trio, Deneb is actually much brighter but it is about 60 times more distant. If it were as close as the other two it would be more than ten times brighter than Venus.
The brighter stars appear near the end of civil twilight, when the Sun reaches six degrees below the horizon. Nautical twilight ends when it is 12 degrees below, at which time mariners have difficulty discerning the distant coastline from water. Readings for celestial navigation were taken during nautical twilight. When the Sun is 18 degrees below the horizon astronomical twilight ends, and in areas with no light pollution or moonlight the only light is from stars, planets, and airglow. Around the summer solstice northern New Brunswick gets only 80 minutes of dark sky between the end and start of astronomical twilight, while southern New Brunswick gets 3 hours and 10 minutes.
This Week in the Solar System
Saturday’s sunrise is at 6:36 and sunset will occur at 8:15, giving 13 hours, 39 minutes of daylight. Next Saturday the Sun will rise at 6:45 and set at 8:02, giving 13 hours, 17 minutes of daylight.
The Moon rises with the Pleiades late Sunday evening, is at third quarter on Monday, and it visits with Jupiter and Mars early Tuesday and Wednesday. Saturn is rising in evening twilight, two weeks before reaching opposition, and its rings appear nearly edge-on in a telescope. Venus remains low in the west in evening twilight, setting before 9 pm. Mercury has moved into the morning sky, rising around 5:30 midweek.
The Fundy Star Party takes place next Friday and Saturday, August 30-31, in Fundy National Park.
See https://rascnb.ca/event/fundy-park-stargaze/ for details.