August stargazing

Quit starting down at your smartphone and look up!

Stargazing Summary
Teapot-shaped Sagittarius and hook-shaped Scorpius highlight August's evening skies. They skitter low across the south during the night. Saturn and Spica remain teamed, as they have been all year, although they are preparing to disappear in the Sun's glare. Mars climbs a little higher from the Sun in the morning sky, while Jupiter enters the evening sky by month's end.


More stargazing information: http://stardate.org/nightsky
 
Radio Program Highlights
Hear StarDate every day on more than 360 radio stations nationwide.


Premium Audio: Listen to today's program today on-demand with a paid subscription to StarDate premium audio — http://stardate.org/store/premium-access/audio

August 1-7: Weather talk. The weather doesn't end when the air does. Space weather extends far beyond Earth's atmosphere, but it can have dangerous effects all the way to the surface. Listen in for details, plus a mission that'll look at the weather on Jupiter.

August 8-14: A powerful swan. Cygnus, the swan, soars gracefully through the Milky Way on summer evenings. The constellation is home to one of the mightiest stars in the galaxy, plus a giant nursery for new stars. Join us for details.

August 15-21: Back to the future. In a digital world, it's easy to forget the analog accomplishments of the past. But one observatory is trying to preserve that past -- by making it digital. We'll have the details, plus efforts to keep some classic telescopes going.

August 22-28: Following up. A small space telescope has discovered more than 1200 possible planets in other star systems. But it takes a lot of work on the ground to make sure that they really are planets. Listen in for details, plus much more.

August 29-31: Evening lineup. The Moon has a couple of bright companions in the evening sky this week -- the star Spica and the planet Saturn. We'll have details. And we'll also talk about an explosive stellar merger.

August Program Schedule: http://stardate.org/radio/calendars
Find an Affiliate: http://stardate.org/radio/affiliates

Coming Up In StarDate Magazine
In the September/October issue, we'll bring you skywatching information and charts for fall, along with new astronomy features, Merlin's answers to your cosmic questions, and the latest astronomy news.


Subscribe online: http://stardate.org/store/subscribe

Black Holes: From the Beginning
We've added a new section to the StarDate Black Hole Encyclopedia web site: the history of black holes. It provides a timeline of key discoveries dating from Isaac Newton in the 1600s to the discovery that there's a relationship between a host galaxy and the supermassive black hole in its center.


Find out more: http://blackholes.stardate.org/