Astronomical phenomena August 2014

Opportunities for observation for August 2014:


04 august 2014 - Moon-Saturn occultation. Saturn 0.0 ° N of Moon at 12:54.

10 august 2014 - Full Moon. Earth is between the Sun and the Moon and so the Moon will be fully illuminated as seen from Earth. This phase occurs at 20:09 GMT +2.

10 august 2014 - Moon reaches perigee, the closest point to Earth (356,897 km from Earth) at 19:44 GMT +2.

12.13 august 2014 - Perseid meteor shower.   Perseids are one of the best meteor showers that produce up to 60 meteors per hour at their peak hours. Radiant point is in the constellation Perseus, and the meteors originates from the tail of Swift-Tuttle Comet.Find a place away from city lights and look to the northeast after midnight.The moon will block some meteors this year, but Perseids are so bright and large that it should be a good show.

18 august 2014 - Conjunction of Venus and Jupiter. Conjunctions are rare events in which two or more objects appear very close in the night sky. The two bright planets will come unusually close to each other, only a quarter of a degree on the sky in the early morning. Also, Beehive star cluster in the constellation Cancer will be only 1 degree away. Look to the east just before sunrise.

24 august 2014 - Moon at apogee. Luna reaches the farthest point from Earth (406,523 km from Earth) at 08:10 GMT +2.

25 august 2014 - New Moon. Moon will be directly between the Earth and the Sun and will not be visible from Earth. This phase occurs at 16:13 GMT +2.


29 august 2014 - Neptune opposition. Neptune will be the closest to Earth and its face will be fully illuminated by the Sun. An opposition is when a planet is at an elongation of 180 ° and thus appears opposite to the Sun in the sky. This is the best time to observe Neptune. Due to its distance, it will only appear as a tiny blue dot.

31 august 2014 -Moon-Saturn occultation. Saturn 0.4 ° ​​N of Moon at 9:21 GMT +2.

Posted in: Astronomical calendar 2014