By Matthew Johnson

Russia’s war in the Ukraine has extended beyond Ukraine’s borders. It has entered our celestial sphere. In early July, NASA issued a statement condemning  images displayed by the cosmonauts from the International Space Station (ISS) by Russia’s space agency “Roscosmos.” Images were displayed in space, circling the Earth every 90 minutes. The cosmonauts aboard the International Space Station held up flags of two Russian-breakaway territories – the Luhansk Peoples Republic and Donetsk Peoples Republic in Eastern Ukraine that Russia invaded in 2014 . NASA issued a statement in response to Roscosmos’ anti-Ukranian agenda. 

NASA rebuked Russia for using the ISS for political purposes. The ISS’s primary function among the fifteen international participating countries is to advance science and develop technologies for peaceful purposes. Joseph Aschbacher, the Director General of the European Space Agency (ESA) also rebuked Roscosmos.  Russia has announced leaving the station and constructing its own space station.

The James Webb Space Telescope appears to be performing wonderfully. It has sent us images and information regarding our universe that is astounding.  Quoting from The New York Times on July 13, 2022: “The universe was born in darkness 13.8 billion years ago, and even after the first stars and galaxies blazed into existence a few hundred million years later, these two stayed dark. Their brilliant light, stretched by time and the expanding cosmos, dimmed into the infrared, rendering them-and other clues to our beginnings –inaccessible to every eye and instrument.”

The Webb Space Telescope is designed to specifically capture the cosmos in the infrared and now images and information from this area of the electromagnetic spectrum is available to us. The Webb is providing a view of the cosmos as it appeared when it was new. 

Observing:

Mercury remains close to the the western horizon all month, but it is difficult to view so close to the  horizon’s edge and being so close to the glare of the Sun. It can best be spotted a half-hour after sunset on Aug. 3 just above Regulus, the brightest star in constellation Leo. 

Venus is a dazzling morning planet all month. On Aug. 1, it rises two hours before the Sun. On August 10, Venus enters the constellation Cancer and on August 17, one hour before sunrise, the planet will be just one degree to the right of the Beehive Cluster in Cancer. This will be a wonderful sight with a pair of binocular or small wide-field telescope. The Beehive Cluster (M44) is an open cluster of stars. The waning crescent moon will be northwest of Venus on Aug. 24, another dramatic view. Saturn rises in the east around 8:45 p.m. on Aug. 1 and  by Aug. 14 it is visible all night in the constellation of Capricorn the Sea Goat. Jupiter rises around 11 p.m. on Aug. 1 and continues to rise earlier each night, rising around 9 p.m. by Aug. 31. 

Meteor Showers:

The famous Perseid Meteor Shower is dramatically interfered with as a result of the Full Moon of Aug. 11 interfering with the shower’s peak on Aug. 12. The moon will most likely wash out all but the brightest meteors. 

Moon Phases:

First Quarter:  August 5
Full Moon:  August 11, a Supermoon *
Last Quarter:  August 19
New Moon:  August 27

The August Full Moon is termed the Sturgeon Moon by native American tribes because the large sturgeon fish of the Great Lakes were more easily caught at this time of the year. The moon has also been known as the Green Corn Moon and the Grain Moon. The Ojibwe and Algonquin referred to this full moon as Corn Moon, the Tlingit as the Mountain Shadows Moon, the Dakota as Harvest Moon and the Assiniboine as the Black Cherries Moon.

*August’s Supermoon refers to the fact that the moon is full while it is at its closest approach to the Earth in its orbit. Look to see if the Full Moon appears slightly larger than at other times when it is full.