Stargazing is at its best in August! You have great constellations to search out, plus a meteor shower to enjoy!
First, let's talk constellations — star patterns in the sky. You can find Ursa Major and Boötes, using this handy star map. (Or you can use star charts from magazines or online). Ursa Major (which means "Great Bear") is close to the northern horizon. The bear's tail points toward the zenith (overhead point in the sky).
Boötes is high in the western sky. It looks like a kite or maybe even an ice-cream cone shape.
If you look carefully, you'll see embedded in Ursa Major the familiar shape of the Big Dipper. Four stars make up the cup and three make up the handle. This pattern is called an "asterism", meaning an arrangement of stars (but not a formal constellation).
The two end stars of the Dipper appear to point to the North Star, called Polaris. That's the star that Earth's north pole appears to point to in the sky. Polaris is the end star in the handle of the Little Dipper, also known as Ursa Minor (the Small Bear).
If you follow the curve of the dipper's handle around and toward the horizon, you'll find the bright star Arcturus. You simply "arc" to Arcturus. It's the brightest star in Boötes.
These are two fairly easy constellations for Northern Hemisphere skygazers to find. Some folks in the northernmost parts of the southern hemisphere can easily see Boötes and a few stars of the Big Dipper as well.
No matter where you live, dress for the weather. Even in warm-weather climates, early morning stargazing can get chilly, so it's best to bring along a jacket or a blanket, and maybe a hat if the temperatures really drop! Some people like to bring along something to drink or eat during the hours they're gazing at the sky. It's all about being comfortable, laying back and enjoying the sight of the planets and stars.
The Perseid Meteor shower is one of the great August events that skygazers look forward to each year. It's one of several meteor showers visible throughout the year. This year, the shower peaks in the early morning hours of August 12th and the best times to watch are around midnight through 3 or 4 a.m. However, you can actually start to see meteors from this stream a week or more before and after the peak, beginning in the late evening hours.
The Perseids occur because Earth's orbit goes through a stream of material left behind by comet Swift-Tuttle as it makes its orbit around the Sun once every 133 years. Many small particles get swept up into our atmosphere, where they get heated up. As that happens, they glow, and those are what we see as Perseid meteors. All of the known showers happen for this same reason, as Earth passes through a "tunnel" of debris from a comet or asteroid.
Observing the Perseids is pretty easy. First, get dark adapted by going outside and keeping away from bright lights. Second, look toward the direction of the constellation Perseus; the meteors will appear to "radiate" from that region of the sky. Third, settle back and wait. Over a period of an hour or two you could see dozens of meteors flaring across the sky. These are little bits of solar system history, burning up before your eyes!
