{"id":3101,"date":"2025-08-02T22:18:34","date_gmt":"2025-08-02T22:18:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.griffithmedia.org\/skyreport\/?p=3101"},"modified":"2025-08-02T22:18:34","modified_gmt":"2025-08-02T22:18:34","slug":"griffith-observatory-sky-report-through-august-2025","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.griffithmedia.org\/skyreport\/2025\/08\/02\/griffith-observatory-sky-report-through-august-2025\/","title":{"rendered":"Griffith Observatory Sky Report through August, 2025"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Click<\/strong><\/a>LISTEN to this week\u2019s Sky Report<\/p>\nhttps:\/\/www.griffithmedia.org\/skyreport\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Aug_2025_Sky_Report.mp3<\/a><\/audio>\n

This is the Griffith Observatory Sky Report for the period between August 1 and August 31, 2025. Here are the events happening in the sky of southern California.<\/p>\n

All times are in Pacific Daylight Time, PDT.<\/p>\n

The sun<\/strong> rises on the 1st<\/sup> in the east-northeast at 6:04 a.m., and sets in the west-northwest at 7:54 p.m.\u00a0 On the 31st<\/sup>, the sun rises in the east-northeast at 6:26 a.m. and sets in the west-northwest at 7:20 p.m.<\/p>\n

Mercury<\/strong> on the 1st<\/sup> is close to the sun and not safe to observe. On the 11th<\/sup>, Mercury rises in the east-northeast at 5:08 a.m., and the sun rises at 6:12 a.m., one hour four minutes later. The planet is 15-percent illuminated and 9.5 arcseconds wide. On the 31st<\/sup>, Mercury rises at 5:27 a.m., 59 minutes before the sun rises. Do not observe any planet when it comes close to the sun, for the danger to the eyes is great.<\/p>\n

Venus<\/strong> rises on the 1st<\/sup> in the east-northeast at 3:12 a.m., with a disk 75-percent illuminated and 14 arcseconds wide. On the 12th<\/sup>, Venus is a degree south of Jupiter. Both rise at 3:25 a.m. On the 31st<\/sup>, Venus rises in the east-northeast at 3:56 a.m., with a disk 84-percent illuminated and 12-arcseconds wide.<\/p>\n

Mars<\/strong> is in Virgo the Maiden. On the 1st<\/sup>, Mars sets in the west at 10:07 p.m., with a disk 95-percent illuminated and 4.2 arcseconds wide. On the 31st<\/sup>, Mars sets at 8:57 p.m. \u00a0A magnification of 200x or more is needed to see the planet\u2019s disk.<\/p>\n

Jupiter<\/strong> is in Gemini the Twins. On the 1st<\/sup>, Jupiter rises in the east-northeast at 3:54 a.m. \u00a0On the 31st<\/sup>, the planet rises at 2:24 a.m. Jupiter is 33 arcseconds wide. A telescope capable of magnification 50x will show the Red Spot, and the four bright Galilean moons can be seen moving back and forth, across and behind Jupiter.<\/p>\n

Saturn<\/strong> is in Pisces the Fishes. On the 1st<\/sup>, the planet rises in the east at 10:20 p.m. \u00a0On the 31st<\/sup>, the planet rises at 8:19 p.m.\u00a0 Saturn is 19 arcseconds wide. The rings and Saturn\u2019s largest moon, Titan, can be seen with a telescope capable of magnification 50x. Saturn\u2019s moon Titan will cast its shadow on Saturn\u2019s disk twice this month. Such an event is called a transit. The first transit starts on the 2nd<\/sup> at 11:05 p.m. and ends on the 3rd<\/sup> at 4:01 a.m. The second transit starts on the 18th<\/sup> at 10:31 p.m. and ends on the 19th<\/sup> at 2:57 a.m.\u00a0 Titan\u2019s shadow is about half an arcsecond in width. A magnification of more than 300x is needed to see such a small feature.<\/p>\n

Uranus<\/strong> is in Taurus the Bull. On the 1st<\/sup>, the planet rises in the east-northeast at 1:08 a.m.\u00a0 On the 31st<\/sup>, Uranus rises at 11:08 p.m.\u00a0 On the 15th<\/sup>, Uranus is at Right Ascension 3h<\/sup> 56m<\/sup> 42s<\/sup> and declination of +20\u00b0 12\u02b9 22\u02ba. A magnification of 200x or more is needed to see the planet\u2019s 3.5 arcsecond disk.<\/p>\n

Neptune<\/strong> is in Pisces the Fishes. On the 1st<\/sup>, Neptune rises in the east at 10:17 p.m.\u00a0 On the 31st<\/sup>, Neptune rises at 8:18 p.m.\u00a0 On the 15th<\/sup>, Neptune is at Right Ascension 0h<\/sup> 8m<\/sup> 34s<\/sup> and declination of -0\u00b0 33\u02b9 9\u02ba. A magnification of 200x or more is needed to see the planet\u2019s 2.3 arcsecond disk.<\/p>\n

The moon<\/strong> is at first quarter on the 1st<\/sup>, full moon on the 9th<\/sup>, last quarter on the 15th<\/sup>, new moon on the 22nd<\/sup>, and first quarter again on the 30th<\/sup>.<\/p>\n

SPECIAL EVENTS<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Perseid<\/strong> meteors<\/strong> are active from July 17 to August 24. This year they peak from 10:00 p.m. on the 11th<\/sup> through 4:40 a.m. on the 12th<\/sup>. The moon is 92-percent full and will interfere with observation. Normal rates as seen from rural locations, range from 50 to 100 shower members per hour at maximum. The Perseids are particles released from comet 109P\/Swift-Tuttle. They are called Perseids because the radiant, the area of the sky from which the meteors seem to originate, is located near the prominent constellation of Perseus the Hero.<\/p>\n

In the major lunar standstill of 2024-2025,<\/strong> the August southernmost moon rises in waxing gibbous phase on the 5th<\/sup> at 5:38 p.m. and sets on the 6th<\/sup> at 3:08 a.m. The August northernmost moon rises as a waning crescent on the 18th<\/sup> at 1:11 a.m., and sets at 4:40 p.m.\u00a0 For details on the major lunar standstill, please visit the website at https:\/\/griffithobservatory.org\/extreme-moon-the-major-lunar-standstills-of-2024-2025\/<\/p>\n

Follow All Space Considered and Griffith Observatory on Facebook<\/a>, Instagram<\/a>, YouTube<\/a>, and Twitter<\/a> for updates on astronomy and space-related events.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

LISTEN to this week\u2019s Sky Report https:\/\/www.griffithmedia.org\/skyreport\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Aug_2025_Sky_Report.mp3 This is the Griffith Observatory Sky Report for the period between August 1 and August 31, 2025. Here are the events happening in the sky of southern California. All times are in Pacific … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3101","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\/3101","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\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.griffithmedia.org\/skyreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3101"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.griffithmedia.org\/skyreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3101\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3103,"href":"https:\/\/www.griffithmedia.org\/skyreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3101\/revisions\/3103"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.griffithmedia.org\/skyreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3101"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.griffithmedia.org\/skyreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3101"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.griffithmedia.org\/skyreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3101"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}