The August night sky is star-filled, with one of the best meteor showers of the year. Planets are few, but star clusters are abundant.
Jupiter is the main planet visible in the early evening night sky. Look for it after sunset at the beginning of the month. By August's end, it will be setting only 45 minutes after the sun. If you have binoculars or a telescope, look for Jupiter's four brightest moons. Watch as they change their line-up around the planet each night.
Neptune and Uranus are visible around midnight. Neptune is in the constellation Capricorn, and glows a bluish color. Uranus is visible in the constellation Aquarius, and glows blue-green in color. The easiest way to find where each of these planets is in the sky is to go to http://www.skyandtelescope.com and use their interactive nightly star chart. Positions of the planets will be clearly marked, and you can use star-hopping to find each one. You do need large binoculars or a telescope to see them, however.
Venus is very visible early in the morning throughout August. By 4 a.m., it is well above the eastern horizon. Venus lies in the constellation Taurus, and is the unmistakably bright star-like object there in the sky. Don't confuse it with a UFO; many people do when it is this bright!
Saturn rises around 40 minutes before sunrise. It continues to climb in the morning sky. If you have a telescope, look for the beautiful rings around it. The Cassini spacecraft is orbiting Saturn now; go to: http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/home/index.cfm for the latest pictures. On the morning of August 31, Saturn has a conjunction (meeting in the sky) between itself and Venus. This is worth getting up early to see; the two planets will be surrounded by the stars of winter, and it will be an incredible sight.
The bright summer stars, Vega, Deneb and Altair, will still be visible directly overhead, forming the Summer Triangle asterism, but the constellations of summer are slowly giving way to the ones of autumn. Look for Pegasus, the Winged Horse, with its awesome Great Square asterism, W-shaped Cassiopeia, the Queen, sitting regally on her throne, and Andromeda, which contains beautiful M31, the Andromeda Galaxy. Under clear dark skies, you will see the Andromeda galaxy as a fuzzy patch of light. Binoculars will reveal it further, but if you have a telescope you will really be able to appreciate the beauty of it.
