Southern Hemisphere night sky tonight: highlights, August 2024<\/strong><\/h2>This month, the rare sight of two planets in the same field of view in a telescope, as Jupiter and Mars meet in the morning sky (rising around 03:00) beneath the Hyades<\/a>.<\/p>Mars is of similar brightness (mag. +0.9) and reddish colour to nearby Aldebaran<\/a>. Jupiter is much brighter at mag. \u20132.2.<\/p>The Red Planet drops towards it, with closest approach on 15 August, 15 arcminutes apart.<\/p>
Mars appears smaller than this gas giant, being 6 arcseconds and 37 arcseconds across, respectively.<\/p>
Stars and constellations<\/strong><\/h2>![\"A](\"https:\/\/c02.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/48\/2019\/03\/yb_southern_cross-d24f387.jpg\")
The Southern Cross and the Coalsack Nebula. Credit: ESO\/Y. Beletsky<\/figcaption><\/figure>You\u2019ll know the dark nebula<\/a> named the Coalsack Nebula, near the Southern Cross, but there is another in the north too.<\/p>The Northern Coalsack lies in the northern Milky Way in the giant dark rift which becomes visible near Ophiuchus<\/a>.<\/p>This rift continues down (north) passing through Serpens, Aquila and Vulpecula to terminate at a bulbous knot, where the nebula lies just above Deneb<\/a> in Cygnus.<\/p>Deneb is easy to spot, being the bottom (most northern) member of the Northern Cross asterism.<\/p>
Planets<\/strong><\/h2>August begins with Mercury in the western twilight sky before it drops into the solar glare and is lost from the evening by midmonth.<\/p>
Venus\u2019s beacon can\u2019t be missed, slowly gaining altitude in the west as Mercury departs.<\/p>
With Saturn at opposition next month, this ringed wonder is rising during twilight and visible all night. Neptune follows Saturn around an hour later.<\/p>
Turning to the morning, Uranus is rising around 01:00, followed by Mars and Jupiter two hours later.<\/p>![\"Eta](\"https:\/\/c02.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/48\/2022\/08\/eta-aquilae-dss2-5d164fd.jpg\")
Eta Aquilae, captured by the Digitised Sky Survey (https:\/\/archive.eso.org\/dss\/dss)<\/figcaption><\/figure>Deep-sky<\/strong><\/h2>This month, we pay a visit to the constellation of Aquila.<\/p>
Located 1\u00b0 north-northwest of the third-magnitude star Lambda (\u03bb) Aquilae is the double star 15 Aquilae.<\/p>
It\u2019s ideal for binoculars, having mag. +5.5 and mag. +7.1 yellow components separated by 38 arcseconds.\u00a0<\/p>
Aquilae is home to many open star clusters, rich star fields and an obvious patchwork of dark nebulae.<\/p>
Centering on third-magnitude Zeta Aquilae (\u03b6) reveals such a patchwork with a small bright knot 2.5\u00b0 south-southwest: NGC 6738 (RA 19h 01.3m, dec. +11\u00b0 36\u2019).<\/p>
This loose open cluster is 20 arcminutes across, with about 50 stars from ninth to 12th magnitude.<\/p>
Some brighter members run north\u2013south in a curved chain through its centre.<\/p>
The central star, HD 230435, is a nice double with mag. +9.1 and mag. +12 companions 18 arcseconds apart.\u00a0<\/p>
Southern Hemisphere Star Charts<\/strong><\/h2>Access this month’s and all previous star charts for the Southern Hemisphere by clicking on the links below.<\/p>
Southern Hemisphere Star Chart August 2024 (PDF)<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/p>Southern Hemisphere Star Chart July 2024 (PDF)<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/p>Southern Hemisphere Star Chart June 2024 (PDF)<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/p>Southern Hemisphere Star Chart May 2024 (PDF)<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/p>Southern Hemisphere Star Chart April 2024 (PDF)<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/p>Southern Hemisphere Star Chart March 2024 (PDF)<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/p>Southern Hemisphere Star Chart February 2024 (PDF)<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/p>Southern Hemisphere Star Chart January 2024 (PDF)<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/p>Southern Hemisphere Star Chart December 2023 (PDF)<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/p>Southern Hemisphere Star Chart November 2023 (PDF)<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/p>
Mars is of similar brightness (mag. +0.9) and reddish colour to nearby Aldebaran<\/a>. Jupiter is much brighter at mag. \u20132.2.<\/p> The Red Planet drops towards it, with closest approach on 15 August, 15 arcminutes apart.<\/p> Mars appears smaller than this gas giant, being 6 arcseconds and 37 arcseconds across, respectively.<\/p> You\u2019ll know the dark nebula<\/a> named the Coalsack Nebula, near the Southern Cross, but there is another in the north too.<\/p> The Northern Coalsack lies in the northern Milky Way in the giant dark rift which becomes visible near Ophiuchus<\/a>.<\/p> This rift continues down (north) passing through Serpens, Aquila and Vulpecula to terminate at a bulbous knot, where the nebula lies just above Deneb<\/a> in Cygnus.<\/p> Deneb is easy to spot, being the bottom (most northern) member of the Northern Cross asterism.<\/p> August begins with Mercury in the western twilight sky before it drops into the solar glare and is lost from the evening by midmonth.<\/p> Venus\u2019s beacon can\u2019t be missed, slowly gaining altitude in the west as Mercury departs.<\/p> With Saturn at opposition next month, this ringed wonder is rising during twilight and visible all night. Neptune follows Saturn around an hour later.<\/p> Turning to the morning, Uranus is rising around 01:00, followed by Mars and Jupiter two hours later.<\/p> This month, we pay a visit to the constellation of Aquila.<\/p> Located 1\u00b0 north-northwest of the third-magnitude star Lambda (\u03bb) Aquilae is the double star 15 Aquilae.<\/p> It\u2019s ideal for binoculars, having mag. +5.5 and mag. +7.1 yellow components separated by 38 arcseconds.\u00a0<\/p> Aquilae is home to many open star clusters, rich star fields and an obvious patchwork of dark nebulae.<\/p> Centering on third-magnitude Zeta Aquilae (\u03b6) reveals such a patchwork with a small bright knot 2.5\u00b0 south-southwest: NGC 6738 (RA 19h 01.3m, dec. +11\u00b0 36\u2019).<\/p> This loose open cluster is 20 arcminutes across, with about 50 stars from ninth to 12th magnitude.<\/p> Some brighter members run north\u2013south in a curved chain through its centre.<\/p> The central star, HD 230435, is a nice double with mag. +9.1 and mag. +12 companions 18 arcseconds apart.\u00a0<\/p> Access this month’s and all previous star charts for the Southern Hemisphere by clicking on the links below.<\/p> Southern Hemisphere Star Chart August 2024 (PDF)<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/p> Southern Hemisphere Star Chart July 2024 (PDF)<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/p> Southern Hemisphere Star Chart June 2024 (PDF)<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/p> Southern Hemisphere Star Chart May 2024 (PDF)<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/p> Southern Hemisphere Star Chart April 2024 (PDF)<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/p> Southern Hemisphere Star Chart March 2024 (PDF)<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/p> Southern Hemisphere Star Chart February 2024 (PDF)<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/p> Southern Hemisphere Star Chart January 2024 (PDF)<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/p> Southern Hemisphere Star Chart December 2023 (PDF)<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/p> Southern Hemisphere Star Chart November 2023 (PDF)<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/p>Stars and constellations<\/strong><\/h2>
Planets<\/strong><\/h2>
Deep-sky<\/strong><\/h2>
Southern Hemisphere Star Charts<\/strong><\/h2>