Welcome to the Ontario Parks “Eyes on the Skies” series. This space (<– see what we did there?) will cover a wide range of astronomy topics with a focus on what can be seen from the pristine skies found in our provincial parks.
August is here at last with its fine weather, fewer mosquitos, and longer nights. All of the constellations and objects from July are still visible, but there are a few exciting new things to see this month.
Here are our astronomical highlights for August 2024:
The sun
The sun continues its apparent drop in elevation as it approaches next month’s fall equinox (equal light and dark).
For those of us relying on daylight to paddle to that distant lakeside campsite or hike that last ridge before setting up for the evening, knowing when the sun sets is important.
In August, we see a big change in the amount of daylight. The sun sets around 8:55 p.m. at the beginning of the month, but by month’s end, it sets almost an hour earlier at 8:05 p.m.
Because of the canopy of trees surrounding most campsites, the horizon will be blocked, meaning you will lose the sun about an hour earlier. If you’re travelling around August 31, make sure you finish your hike or paddle by 7:00 p.m.
This can shorten our recreation time, but from an astronomy perspective, we gain almost two more hours of darkness to appreciate the night skies.
Sunrise and sunset times
| August 1 | August 15 | August 31 | |
| Sunrise | 6:09 a.m. | 6:26 a.m. | 6:46 a.m. |
| Midday | 1:32 p.m. | 1:30 p.m. | 1:26 p.m. |
| Sunset | 8:55 p.m. | 8:33 p.m. | 8:05 p.m. |
The moon
The moon has long captivated observers of all ages. August lunar phases of the moon occur as follows:
The planets
The planets are still quite close to the sun to see them clearly with the exception of Saturn.
By mid-month, Saturn will rise around 10:00 p.m. and is due south at 3:30 a.m.
While this is not a convenient time for many people, those wishing to see Saturn can get up (or stay up) and notice its slight yellowish tinge as compared to some of the bluer stars (Vega and Deneb in the Summer Triangle for example).
If you are interested in getting up early in the morning, then a special treat awaits you on the early morning of August 14!
Once Jupiter has risen (after around 1:30 a.m.), you will be able to see the planet Mars towards the upper left.
To the unaided eye, Mars will appear about 2/3 of a moon’s width away from Jupiter. In binoculars, the view might be more interesting, as represented below in the image below created with SkySafari Pro 7.0.
In this view, not only will you be able to see the reddish planet (Mars) contrasting against the pale white Jupiter, but you should also be able to clearly see three of Jupiter’s four brightest moons (Io is too close to the planet to see with binoculars at this time).
Meteor showers and satellites
This year’s August Perseid meteor shower should be spectacular as it occurs near the first quarter moon.
Although the light from the moon will significantly reduce the viability of meteors for the first part of the night, once the moon has set, an observer in dark skies may have the possibility of seeing up to 100 meteors per hour.
This meteor shower originates from a recurring comet, Swift-Tuttle, that last passed by in 1995 and has an 133-year orbit.
Meteor observing, especially in the dark skies of our provincial parks, is one of the most enjoyable ways to get into astronomy.
You don’t need any special equipment other than your eyes!
A lounge chair, sleeping bag, and a buddy are all welcome additions to enjoying the spectacle. If you take a look at our constellation charts, you can practice learning your constellations while you watch for the meteors.
A meteor shower occurs when the Earth enters the debris field of a comet that has long ago passed around the sun.
These bits of dust and grit, often no bigger than your thumbnail, enter the earth’s atmosphere and burn up high above the ground (see our post on meteor showers for more information).
The summer Milky Way
If you are fortunate to be in one of our provincial parks this summer, especially one that is remote enough to provide you with dark skies, you will be graced with a view of the summer Milky Way.
In the image to the right, a single 30 second photo taken with a smartphone on a tripod, you can see the many myriads of stars that are close to us, standing out against the milky backdrop of the Milky Way.
The Milky Way explained
So, what is the Milky Way?
This puzzled ancient astronomers for eons until the advent of the first telescopes.
Galileo Galilee, using his primitive “optic tube” noted that everywhere he looked within the Milky Way, he resolved the cloudy glow into stars.
The Milky Way then, is to our eyes the same as pixels in a printed photograph. In the case of a photo, individual points (pixels) combine to make up the image.
Take a look at this text or an image with a magnifying glass (you can use your smartphone’s version if you don’t happen to have an optical magnifying glass).
Individually, the points are separate but together, they make up the image.
So too with the Milky Way. It is composed of hundreds of millions of stars. They look like individual points of light when using a telescope, but they are so very far away that together they look like a cloudy band of light!
The stars that we do see individually are a lot closer to us within our spiral arm, whereas the stars making up the Milky Way band of light are considerably distant.
For more information on the Milky Way, check out our post on the Milky Way Galaxy here.
Featured constellations: an archer, dolphin and a goat
In this month’s featured constellations, we discuss Sagittarius, Capricornus, and Delphinus.
