Your Night Sky -Finally a clear night

On Aug. 13 the sky cleared enough that we decided to go soak in the hot tub and look for the Perseid meteors. In 40 minutes we only saw two, but they were big and bright as they shot across the sky. They’re so much fun to look for.
Although the clouds were gone, the sky was obviously hazy since the Milky Way was a pale white fuzzy streak across the sky, and only the brightest stars were visible. On a very clear night there are thousands of stars visible, and the Milky Way is beautiful to look at with our light pollution free skies.
I was able to see some highly visible and popular constellations and asterisms. There was the Big Dipper, Cassiopeia, the Summer Triangle, Sagittarius with the Teapot asterism, and Scorpius the Scorpion.
Cassiopeia is the five-star “W” on its side sitting in front of the Milky Way in the northeast. The upper part of the “W” points to the Andromeda Galaxy to the lower right. Andromeda is visible with the naked eye on a very clear night. It’s bigger than the Milky Way and is the closest large galaxy to us. Cassiopeia is the Queen sitting on her throne, although that’s not what it looks like. It’s very easy to find.
In the northwest you’ll find the Big Dipper which everyone knows. It’s the most famous asterism in our sky, and consists of seven stars forming a pot with a long curved handle. It’s part of the constellation Ursa Major. Ursa Major is Latin for Great Bear, and is a very large bear in our sky. The Big Dipper handle is the bear’s tail, and the pot is its hind quarters. The Big Dipper faces upward in the fall and downward in the spring.
Of course the Summer Triangle is a large asterism high overhead with three big bright stars. Just look overhead for a large triangle spread out across the sky.
Low in the east in front of the center of the Milky Way are two constellations, Sagittarius the Archer and Scorpius the Scorpion. The Teapot Asterism is the highly visible part of Sagittarius. It looks like it’s pouring into Scorpius which sits to the right of it. Scorpius looks like a “J” sitting on its side. They are both highly visible and easy to find.
Sagittarius the Archer is half man and half horse. The Teapot is made from 10 of its brightest and central stars. Scorpius the Scorpion is a Zodiacal constellation. The curved part of the “J” is the tail of Scorpius, and sits in front of the richest part of the Milky Way. To the right of the tail is the bright orange star Anteres which is the Scorpions heart. It’s a red super giant 300 times as large as our Sun. Because they’re sitting in front of the heart of our Milky Way, there’s a lot to look at in these two constellations, so get out your binoculars to explore them.
The new moon was on Aug. 21, so this is still a good time to look at the sky for the next few nights. We just need a clear sky. The moon, Jupiter, and Spica form a triangle low in the sky shortly after sunset. The moon will be on top with Jupiter on the right and Spica on the left. They’re visible for a little while, but will set early. Saturn is above Scorpius to the right of the Teapot. On Aug. 29 the moon will be to the right of Saturn. So go out and look for these things on a clear night.