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This is the Griffith Observatory Sky Report for the week ending Wednesday, August 28, 2013. Here is what’s happening in the skies of Southern California:
The moon was full on August 20 and will show its waning gibbous phase until it reaches last quarter phase on Wednesday the 28th. The time of moonrise will occur about 38 minutes later each successive evening. On the 21st it rises at 7:51 p.m., and on Tuesday the 27th at 11:42 p.m. On the later morning, the moon will appear between the bright Hyades and Pleiades star clusters of Taurus the Bull.
The planet Venus is the brilliant white light in the west-southwest sky during twilight. Planet Saturn is the brightest object to the upper left of Venus in the southwest sky, and the bright star Spica of Virgo the Maiden, slightly fainter than Saturn, appears a little below the midpoint of the two planets. Venus and Saturn move closer together in the sky, their separation closing from 29 degrees to 23 degrees this week. For comparison, the Big Dipper spans 25 degrees of the sky.
The giant planet Jupiter, in Gemini the Twins, rises in the east-northeast at 2:30 a.m. and is 27 degrees high in the east when dawn starts at 4:55 a.m.
The start of dawn is the best time to spot orange planet Mars in Cancer the Crab, still on the far side of the sun and relatively faint. It is located to the lower left of Jupiter, and midway to the horizon from Jupiter.
Comet ISON (C/2012 S1), which was promoted widely last year as the upcoming “comet of the Century,” is also in Cancer the Crab, to the lower left of Mars at dawn. The comet, at magnitude 14, is much fainter than the optimistic predictions would have made it, and as a result, it remains visible only to experienced amateur and professional observers at this time. As observing prospects become clearer before the comet’s Thanksgiving Day close encounter with the Sun, Griffith Observatory will provide detailed observing information, assuming the comet brightens enough to observe easily.
The International Space Station should make two spectacular evening passes over Los Angeles this week. On Saturday, August 24, the ISS appears in the northwest at 9:06 p.m., and vanishes into earth’s shadow at 9:10 p.m. while 61 degrees high in the southwest. On the next night, Sunday, August 25, the space station will appear between 8:17 and 8:23 p.m. as it moves from the northwest to the east-southeast. The ISS will appear highest at 8:11 p.m., about 65 degrees high in the northeast. Ten-power binoculars are sufficient to see the square shape outlined by the solar panels of the International Space Station.
Free views of the sun during the day and of the moon, planets, and other celestial objects at night, are available to the public in clear weather through Griffith Observatory’s telescopes Tuesday-Sunday before 9:30 p.m. Check our website for our schedule. The next public star party on the grounds of Griffith Observatory, hosted by the Los Angeles Astronomical Society, the Sidewalk Astronomers, and the Planetary Society, will take place on Saturday, September 14.
From Griffith Observatory, I’m Anthony Cook and I can be reached at griffithobserver@gmail.com.