August 17
The Forgotten Thirteenth Sign
Sun Position
The Sun is in late Leo at about +12° declination, making a long, shallow arc across the northern sky. Days are measurably shorter than in July across the Northern Hemisphere.
Sky Highlight
The Southern Delta Aquariid shower has faded and the Perseids have passed peak, but mid-August still sees residual Perseid activity (perhaps 20-30 meteors per hour from dark sites) along with sporadic background meteors from other minor showers. The sky is quieter after the Perseid peak, which is itself a kind of contrast worth noting.
Deep Sky Object
M14, a globular cluster in Ophiuchus, lies roughly 30,300 light-years away and is well placed on August evenings for both hemispheres near the celestial equator. Less famous than M13 or M22, it is a dense, rich system that rewards careful observation under dark skies.
Featured Star
Rasalhague, the A5III white giant heading Ophiuchus, is 47 light-years from Earth (close enough to detect its proper motion across the sky over decades) and sits at the top of a constellation that crosses the ecliptic but appears in no traditional zodiac. The Sun passes through Ophiuchus every year in late November and early December, a fact the constellation signs on any star chart will confirm.
Around This Date
- August 18, 1877Asaph Hall discovered Phobos, Mars's inner moon, confirming within six days what had eluded astronomers for centuries: that the red planet has two small, irregular satellites.
- August 20, 1977Voyager 2 launched from Cape Canaveral, beginning a journey that will continue for billions of years regardless of whether any human civilization persists to track it.
The zodiac missing Ophiuchus isn't really about astronomy, it's about a numbering system people didn't want to change, which is a story that comes up in every human field.