August 14
The Heart That Rivals Mars
Sun Position
The Sun is in late Leo at roughly +13° declination. Northern Hemisphere afternoons are visibly shorter than in July; Southern Hemisphere nights shrink as the days lengthen toward the equinox.
Sky Highlight
After the Perseid peak, late-night skies in mid-August settle into the richest Milky Way season for Northern Hemisphere observers, with the galactic center in Sagittarius due south at nightfall and the whole summer band overhead. Southern Hemisphere observers have had the galactic core overhead all season.
Deep Sky Object
M8, the Lagoon Nebula in Sagittarius, is a naked-eye emission nebula roughly 4,100 light-years away that glows with active star formation. It is best seen from the Southern Hemisphere, where Sagittarius rides higher, but is visible from northern mid-latitudes as well, binoculars show the bright core easily on an August evening.
Featured Star
Antares, the M1.5Iab-b red supergiant in Scorpius, sits roughly 550 light-years away and glows with a deep amber-red that the ancient Greeks found so similar to Mars that they named it the rival. It is currently in Scorpius's evening sky, sinking toward the southwest after sunset in the Northern Hemisphere and riding high from southern latitudes.
Around This Date
- August 18, 1877Asaph Hall announced the discovery of Phobos, completing a paired discovery of both Martian moons that had been predicted 150 years earlier by Jonathan Swift in Gulliver's Travels.
- August 20, 1977Voyager 2 lifted off, initiating the Grand Tour mission that would deliver humanity's first close images of Uranus and Neptune before heading into the outer Solar System.
Antares earned a martial name from people who watched it carefully enough to notice it looked like a planet, careful attention paid in ancient firelight.