Abstract
THE nights during August are still rather short to afford much opportunity for a close scrutiny of the rich fields about the galactic equator, which in the British Isles passes overhead from north-east to southwest about midnight at the beginning of the month. Even at nightfall, however, the sky is distinctive with Arcturus still fairly high towards the west: Jupiter a brilliant object in the south-west: Vega, Deneb and Altair not far from the meridian: Saturn rising with Pisces in the east, whilst Capella may be picked out towards the northern horizon. Full moon occurs on August 3d 3h 47m and new moon on August 17d 3h 21m. The brightest star to be occulted this lunation is K Piscium (magnitude 4.9) the reappearance may be observed on August 6d lh 59.7m (U.T.) at position angle 267° from the north point of the lunar disk. Other occultations of stars, ranging in magnitude from 6.3 to 6.7, may be observed on August 5, 6, 10 and 13. Between August 9 and 12 occurs the maximum of the Perseid meteor shower, the radiant of which is in Perseus at R.A. 3h 0m and Dec. 57° N. The meteors of this shower are yellowish in colour and move with medium velocity. The orbit of the shower is well determined and coincides with that of Tuttle's Comet of 1862. On August 4, Peltier's comet (discovered on May 15 last by Mr. L. Peltier of Delphos, Ohio) is at its nearest approach to the earth at a distance of 153/4 million miles. Its computed position on August 4d 0h is R.A. 21h 45m 10s: Dec. 4° 8′ S., which places it in the constellation Aquarius, but the moon being full will prevent its being easily observed; otherwise it should be faintly visible to the naked eye. The comet is then travelling south rapidly and will reach 70° S. on August 24. Nova Lacertse, which was discovered on June 18d 211/2h, probably reached its maximum brightness of about mag. 2.2 on June 20 and is now slowly fading. Its magnitude on July 17 was 6.3 according to Steaven-son, so that the nova can be seen with binoculars; its position (R.A. 22h llm 5s: Dec. 54° 59′ 42′ N.) is about 2° south of s Cephei. The character of the nova's spectrum suggests a more rapid progress than is normally the case through the typical evolution stages of a nova.
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The Night Sky in August. Nature 138, 159–160 (1936). https://doi.org/10.1038/138159e0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/138159e0