{"id":1775,"date":"2016-08-18T00:52:48","date_gmt":"2016-08-18T00:52:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.griffithmedia.org\/skyreport\/?p=1775"},"modified":"2016-08-18T00:52:48","modified_gmt":"2016-08-18T00:52:48","slug":"griffith-observatory-sky-report-through-august-24th-2016","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.griffithmedia.org\/skyreport\/2016\/08\/18\/griffith-observatory-sky-report-through-august-24th-2016\/","title":{"rendered":"Griffith Observatory Sky Report through August 24th, 2016"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Click<\/strong><\/a>LISTEN to this week\u2019s Sky Report<\/p>\n

This is the Griffith Observatory Sky Report through August 24th, 2016. Here\u2019s what\u2019s happening in the skies of southern California.<\/p>\n

Take advantage of clear weather for a rare opportunity to see all five of the planets visible to the unaided eye at the same time. Start by looking at about 8:00 p.m. to see the brightest planet, Venus, about 6 degrees above the western horizon. To the upper left of Venus is the second brightest planet, Jupiter. Between the 17th and 24th, the angular separation between Venus and Jupiter will shrink from 10 degrees to only three degrees. As the sky darkens, look for the innermost planet, Mercury. Mercury is located four degrees below Jupiter on the 17th, and moves to Jupiter\u2019s lower left by the 24th. While Mercury, Venus, and Jupiter are low in the west, bright orange planet Mars and the fainter, gold-hued planet Saturn, are high in the south-southwest. The orange, glittering star below Saturn is Antares, the brightest star of Scorpius the Scorpion. As the days pass, the relatively fast motion of Mars becomes obvious in comparison to the distant stars and the slow-moving Saturn. On the 17th, Mars is to the lower right of Saturn, and by the 24th it is below Saturn and in line with Saturn and Antares.<\/p>\n

The moon is full at 2:27 a.m. on the 18th, and the traditional name for August\u2019s full moon is the Sturgeon Moon. On following nights, the moon is waning gibbous and it rises after sunset by increasingly longer intervals, so that by the 24th it does not appear until 1:24 a.m.<\/p>\n

A video showing the motions of the planets and the moon in August is now on the Griffith Observatory YouTube Channel.<\/a><\/p>\n

Free views of the sun during the day and of the moon, planets, and other celestial objects at night are available to the public in clear weather through Griffith Observatory\u2019s telescopes from Tuesday through Sunday, before 9:30 p.m. Because of heavy summer traffic, we advise arriving as early as possible! Check our website for the schedule. The next free public star party<\/a> on the grounds of Griffith Observatory, hosted by the Los Angeles Astronomical Society, the Sidewalk Astronomers, and the Planetary Society, will take place on Saturday, September 10.<\/p>\n

Follow the Sky Report on Twitter<\/a> for updates of astronomy and space-related events.<\/p>\n

From Griffith Observatory, I\u2019m Anthony Cook, and I can be reached at griffithobserver@gmail.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

LISTEN to this week\u2019s Sky Report This is the Griffith Observatory Sky Report through August 24th, 2016. Here\u2019s what\u2019s happening in the skies of southern California. Take advantage of clear weather for a rare opportunity to see all five of … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1775","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-skyreport"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.griffithmedia.org\/skyreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1775","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.griffithmedia.org\/skyreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.griffithmedia.org\/skyreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.griffithmedia.org\/skyreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.griffithmedia.org\/skyreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1775"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.griffithmedia.org\/skyreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1775\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1776,"href":"https:\/\/www.griffithmedia.org\/skyreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1775\/revisions\/1776"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.griffithmedia.org\/skyreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1775"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.griffithmedia.org\/skyreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1775"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.griffithmedia.org\/skyreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1775"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}