Updated August 8, 2025
NOTE: you can now follow the discussion below with a free planetarium program called Stellarium. To access the web version, go to https://stellarium-web.org/ and allow it to access your location to provide you with an accurate simulation of your nighttime sky. Experiment with it to learn more about the constellations mentioned below, and more.
As the Sun goes down this evening (August 8) and the skies get dark, the almost full Moon hangs low in the east southeast. It is one day from Full Moon Phase, the Full Sturgeon Moon of August. In the western sky, Mars continues to linger low in the west, setting around the end of twilight. It glows at magnitude 1.6 and is near the border between Leo and Virgo. It is the only naked eye planet visible until Saturn comes up around 9 pm local time. Saturn is a bit brighter than Mars, at +0.8 magnitude. Mars will continue to linger in the evening sky until early fall before finally fading into the twilight glow. It passes behind the Sun (as seen from Earth) in early 2026.
As summer marches on, the bright “spring star” Arcturus, now getting lower in the west as it comes out in twilight. Arcturus is at the bottom of a long thin kite-shaped pattern of stars that marks the constellation Bootes. The kite extends right-ward or north-ward from Arcturus for a distance of 23 degrees. The lower right side of the kite is dented.
An equally bright star, the “summer star” of Vega, is high overhead at dusk. About one third of the way from there to Arcturus is the rather faint keystone pattern of Hercules. Continue for another third (so that you go two-thirds along the imaginary line that joins Vega and Arcturus) and you will come across the semicircular Corona Borealis constellation, with the medium bright star Alphecca as its crown jewel. This compact constellation sits almost directly above Arcturus these late summer evenings.
The Big Dipper continues to move through its slow motion scooping motion with each passing evening. About 30 degrees to the right of the midpoint of the Dipper is the North Star, Polaris. One can also use the end stars of the Dipper’s bowl (the “pointers”) to find the North Star. The two end stars of the Little Dipper’s bowl are visible about 15 degrees to the upper left of Polaris. Below and right of Polaris is the “W”-shaped constellation of Cassiopeia, now starting to tilt up (its right side) as it has started ascending in the north northeast. As the evening (and the summer season) progresses, the “W” will continue to rotate and get higher and more easily seen.
The summer constellations of Scorpius and Sagittarius are well placed in the southern sky just after dark. Antares is visible low in the south as it gets completely dark and is distinguished by its fiery orange color. To the right and slightly higher are three blue-white stars making an almost vertical line. This marks the head of Scorpius, with the heart marked by Antares. The entire Scorpius constellation curls downward from Antares, levels just above the horizon, then curls back up to form the tail. At the tail tip is a relatively bright pair of stars, Shaula and Lesath, nicknamed “the Cat’s Eyes”. They glow at magnitudes 1.6 and 2.6, respectively. This whole assembly is higher in the sky as one goes south in latitude.
Also in the the evening sky: Altair is high in the southeast after dark. Just about it, by about one degree, is Tarazed. At magnitude +2.7, it is considerably dimmer than Altair, at+0.7 magnitude. Altair is nearby as far as cosmic distances are concerned. It sits at 17 light years distance. Tarazed is an orange giant star, 170 times as luminous as Altair, but much further away at 380 light years distance. Altair is a little over 10 times as luminous as our own Sun.
The rest of the Summer Triangle continues to rise higher with each passing evening. Vega leads the way, being very high in the east at nightfall; this is followed by Deneb below and left of Vega. As one looks at the Summer Triangle, one may notice a forth star to the right that turns the triangle into a diamond. This is the medium-bright star Rasalhague, in the neighboring constellation Hercules.
In the predawn sky, there are two bright objects located toward the east. The brighter is Venus, the fainter is Jupiter. Watch each morning as they slowly inch closer together with each passing morning. The morning of August 12 sees them at their apparent closest to each other, 0.9 degrees. Each rise about an hour before the start of morning twilight but they will be a spectacular sight in the morning sky. Also, the annual Perseid meteor shower, one of two really productive meteor showers that happen each year, is at its maximum. From a dark sky location with the Moon absent, there are up to 120 meteors per hour. However, this year, that number is cut back significantly due to the waning gibbous Moon lighting up the sky from the southwestern direction.
The predawn sky (one hour before local sunrise) resembles the mid-evening sky in mid-December. Gemini and Orion are both easily seen above the eastern horizon at dawn’s earliest light. The dog stars Procyon (due east) and Sirius (low in the east southeast) will become visible in twilight sometime in the next week or two. When Sirius rises with the summer Sun, this is termed the Helical Rising of Sirius. When can you first spot it in the morning twilight. It was once believed that its apparent proximity to the Sun added to the Sun’s heat this time of year, hence this time of year is called “the dog days of summer”. Sirius is the brightest star of the large dog constellation.
Go to “This Week’s Sky at a Glance”, where you will find the current “Sky at a Glance” (now for the week ending August 17). There are lots of links to interesting news stories and additional observing projects that one can look into.
The Sun continues at a moderate level of activity this week, and observations are happening on an intermittent basis. The most recent images from Prairie View Solar Observatory can be viewed at https://www.pvamu.edu/pvso/solar-observations-2025/.
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Images of the recent total lunar eclipse (14 March 2025) can be viewed here.
We observed two solar eclipses less than six months apart. Check out images from these celestial events at this site.
We observed and imaged the total lunar eclipsed that occurred during the predawn hours of 8 November 2022. The images and report can be viewed at https://www.pvamu.edu/pvso/cosmic-corner/total-lunar-eclipse-2022-1-2/. Partial lunar eclipse began at 3:09 am CST, total eclipse started at 4:16 am CST, maximum eclipse (when the Moon should appear darkest) at 4:59 am CST, total eclipse ended at 5:42 am CST, and partial eclipse finished at 6:49 am. The subtle penumbral shading was detectable some 30 to 40 minutes before and after the partial stages. Lots more information can be found at Sky and Telescope’s eclipse page.
Over a year ago, a Total Lunar Eclipse, with totality lasting nearly 85 minutes, was visible across North and South America (except the far northwest part of North America). Partial eclipse began at 9:28 pm CDT (May 15), totality began at 10:29 pm, mid eclipse was 11:12 pm, total eclipse ended at 11:54 pm and partial eclipse ended at 12:56 pm, CDT (May 16). We did observe the event and got pictures, check out this website for these.
Jupiter was hit by a meteor in 2021, see https://skyandtelescope.org/astronomy-news/jupiter-whacked-again-japanese-astronomers-record-possible-impact/, for more information on what is the 11th confirmed observation of a fireball to burn up in its atmosphere. We plan to organize a campaign to watch for fireballs in Venus’ atmosphere early this summer; check back for more details in the near future. There was another event documented on 28 August 2023. You can read all about it at this website.
The Perseverance rover continues to perform wonderful feats of science, from finding evidence of a raging river, to making 10 g of pure oxygen from the Martian air to watching a small drone helicopter take its 51st flight over the Martian wasteland. For more information on it and other activity on Mars, visit mars.jpl.nasa.gov. Also, Curiosity has returned some beautiful sunset pictures of cirrus-like clouds in the Martian sky.
Observations of the partial phase of the May 2021 lunar eclipse (taken with smartphone and a University telescope), along with unfiltered, stacked galaxy and cluster images, can be viewed from the project update website https://www.pvamu.edu/pvso/cosmic-corner/project-summary-2/. We are currently experiencing an extended spell of inclement weather, preventing much observing, but as conditions improve we plan to resume nighttime observations along with regular solar observations. Information on all the eclipses that will occur in 2022 can be found at this link.
The PVO complex has 3 domes, including the existing “Classic” Solar Observatory, and two new domes. For updates on this progress check out https://www.pvamu.edu/pvso/cosmic-corner/project-summary-2/. Also, more information and images can be viewed at https://sites.google.com/view/saganti-astro/home. The two newer domes contain our Meade 16-inch advanced telescope (east dome, an Astrohaven clamshell-type dome) and a new 0.6 meter (24-inch) PlaneWave Corrected Dall-Kirkham telescope (west dome, an Ash dome). The design features these two domes situated east and west of a visitor’s center, which is immediately north of the existing Solar Observatory. Work is planned to resume on the 24-inch in early 2024.