“No!”

The title of the post says it all.

But to clarify, no matter what you have received via email, or heard from friends, you are NOT going to see “Mars as big as the full moon” on August 27th.

This is a hoax, which has now been going for five years.

If you want more information, you can search previous posts. Otherwise we have no comment.

An August Full Moon

Somtething is going to happen at 5.16pm EDT on Saturday, August 16th. The moon will be opposite the sun in the sky, having reached its “full” phase.

The August full moon is called the “Sturgeon Moon” as the large fish were seemingly easier to catch this month.

And if you just so happened to be on the other side of the world there will be a partial eclipse of the moon. If you remember last August, we actually had a total lunar eclipse at full moon.

So as the sun sets on the warm Saturday evening, turn around 180º from the sunset and see the luminous full moon rising in the southeastern sky, as it begins its journey across the night sky, bathing the earth with its reflected glow.

Summer Shooting Stars

The Perseid meteor shower for 2008 peaks in the morning hours of Tuesday, August 12th. The best views will be after 2.00am when the moon sets.

This is called the “Perseid” meteor shower because, from our view, the meteors seem to come from the area in the sky which includes the constellation Perseus. This constellation rises around 11.00pm and will be high in the northern skies all night.

If it’s a good shower, you might get to see sixty meteors an hour.

What you need to observe them:

Darkest skies possible. If you can, get as far away from the city (and any lights) as you are able.

Despite it being summer, it gets chilly late at night. Bring a jacket, blanket, etc.

Bug spray. Skeeters love to bite.

You can either bring a reclining lawn chair or lay on the ground, it’s your call.
(We always bring some tunes, plus snacks and drinks).

Bring a red-filtered flashlight. The red light won’t ruin your night vision like a white-light will. You want your pupils to be as dilated as possible to see as much of the sky as you can.