{"id":2324,"date":"2018-08-02T16:58:45","date_gmt":"2018-08-02T16:58:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.griffithmedia.org\/skyreport\/?p=2324"},"modified":"2018-08-02T22:09:16","modified_gmt":"2018-08-02T22:09:16","slug":"griffith-observatory-sky-report-through-august-8-2018","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.griffithmedia.org\/skyreport\/2018\/08\/02\/griffith-observatory-sky-report-through-august-8-2018\/","title":{"rendered":"Griffith Observatory Sky Report through August 8, 2018"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Click<\/strong><\/a>LISTEN to this week\u2019s Sky Report<\/p>\nhttp:\/\/www.griffithmedia.org\/skyreport\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/Sky_Report_8-1-18.mp3<\/a><\/audio>\n

This is the Griffith Observatory Sky Report through August 8th, 2018. Here\u2019s what\u2019s happening in the skies of southern California.<\/p>\n

During evening twilight, four planets are visible. Venus, the brightest planet, blazes in the west. To the upper left of Venus, in the south-southwest, is the bright gleam of Jupiter, in the constellation Libra the Scales. Golden Saturn, in Sagittarius the Archer, is fainter than Jupiter, \u00adbut it is still as bright as a brilliant star\u00ad\u00ad, and it can be seen in the southeast sky, to the left of Jupiter. Finally, the fiery glow of Mars in the constellation Capricornus the Sea Goat, outshines Jupiter from its evening twilight position, near the east-southeast horizon.<\/p>\n

Venus and Jupiter are best observed by telescope early in the evening. Venus currently shows a gibbous phase. Jupiter reveals its largest four moons, and striped belts of clouds. Its famous oval storm, the Great Red Spot, will face observers in Los Angeles at 9:00 p.m. on the 4th and 6th. Venus and Jupiter set at 10:00 p.m. and midnight, respectively.<\/p>\n

Saturn, adorned with its incomparable system of spectacular rings, is best positioned for telescopic observation at 10:00 p.m., when it crosses the meridian in the south.\u00a0 Mars is highest in the sky at about 12:30 a.m. The visibility of the Martian planetary features is muted by a global dust storm that is only beginning to settle after covering the planet in June and July. Saturn slips below the horizon at about 3:00 a.m., and Mars sets shortly before sunrise.<\/p>\n

The moon wanes from gibbous to crescent and it is last quarter on the morning of the 4th. Its rising time advances from 10:56 p.m. on the first to 3:04 a.m. on the 8th.<\/p>\n

Free views of the Sun during the day and of the moon and planets at night are available to the public in clear weather through Griffith Observatory\u2019s telescopes from Tuesday through Sunday, before 9:30 p.m. 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, August 18, from 2:00 p.m. until 9:30 p.m.<\/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","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

LISTEN to this week\u2019s Sky Report http:\/\/www.griffithmedia.org\/skyreport\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/Sky_Report_8-1-18.mp3 This is the Griffith Observatory Sky Report through August 8th, 2018. Here\u2019s what\u2019s happening in the skies of southern California. During evening twilight, four planets are visible. Venus, the brightest planet, blazes in … 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-2324","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\/2324","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=2324"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.griffithmedia.org\/skyreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2324\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2328,"href":"https:\/\/www.griffithmedia.org\/skyreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2324\/revisions\/2328"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.griffithmedia.org\/skyreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2324"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.griffithmedia.org\/skyreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2324"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.griffithmedia.org\/skyreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2324"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}