Looking to the Skies August 2023 By Brian Davidson

Observing
The following chart represents the night sky at 11.00pm BST on the 8th of August and at 10.00pm BST on the 23rd August. Normally we face south but as the circumpolar constellations are the objects of interest we shall be facing in a northerly direction.

Circumpolar constellations are the one which rotate anti-clockwise about the north pole star (Polaris) and never drop below the horizon throughout the year during the hours of darkness. The obvious ones are Ursa Major- The Great Bear and Cassiopeia- a queen in Greek mythology and wife of king Cepheus.. So looking north you will immediately see towards your lefthand side, The Plough, the well known asterism in the constellation Ursa Major- The Great Bear. The Plough has been outlined in red. The two bottom stars on the Plough, Merak and Dubhe, are known as the pointers because a line (shown in yellow) through them and extended about x5 the distance between them takes you to Polaris- the north pole star. It is the brightest star in Ursa Minor- The Little Bear, but not particularly bright at magnitude 2 but easy to locate as it is on its own. Ursa Minor mimics the shape of the Plough and Polaris sits at the end of its handle. Now take a line from Alioth, the third star from the end of the handle of the Plough, and extend it through Polaris by about the same distance again (shown by the second yellow line in the chart) and you see a bright star, the central one of a ‘W’ formation. This ‘W’ formation is an asterism in the constellation- Cassiopeia, but most people see the ‘W’ shape and call it Cassiopeia. The bright star was never given a name but was used for navigation in early space missions and has since been given the name Navi, an anagram of the middle name of Virgil Grissom who lost his life in the pursuit of space exploration.
            This is a good time of year to see the Plough and Cassiopeia as neither is on the horizon as they rotate about the north pole star.
            To the west of Cassiopeia and towards your zenith you will see a group of not very bright stars forming a shape similar to the gable end of a house. This is the constellation Cepheus- king Cepheus in Greek mythology and husband of queen Cassiopeia and father of princess Andromeda.
            Finally, another large constellation Draco- The Dragon, can be found with its tail wrapping itself around Ursa Minor but it has no stars brighter than magnitude 2.
              
Something to look out for
            All good things come to an end and we have lost the sight of Venus in the evening sky as it has passed inferior conjunction and is very close to the Sun. Mars is heading for solar conjunction behind the Sun but Saturn will be at opposition on the 27th August and will be seen in the south-east before 10 pm. Make the most of this opportunity because Saturn’s ring will become more edge on over the next two years and will be harder to see. On the 30th August there will be a close approach of a nearly full Moon and Saturn.
Clear skies.